Darkened Skies
by Orangen
Summary: Based on Mystery Dungeon: Explorers. The quest to reverse the planet's paralysis is seen through multiple points of view as Team Shadow tries their best to be a normal exploration team. But when your team consists of an amnesiac Meowth, a nervous Chimchar, a quiet Cubone, and a very quirky Machop, things are never normal.
1. Solutions

_Disclaimer_: Not entirely sure how necessary these things are, as if I owned Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, then obviously I wouldn't be writing fan fiction about it.

_Author's Note_: Well, I'm aware that PMD2 has been out for quite some time now… But this is something that I've been wanting to write for a while, so I'm finally getting myself in gear and starting on it. Given how I've got several of my own theories on how the Mystery Dungeon world works, or how it should work, in the very least this shouldn't come off as a rehash of all the other PMD2-original-team-stories you've probably read by now. That aside, also note that not necessarily every chapter (like this one) will be from my main character's point of view. Also, two quick notes: First, I normally don't support human/Pokémon pairings apart from Hero/Grovyle; I'm just pairing the hero's mother with one in an attempt to justify the specific Pokémon she turns into later. Secondly, I'm having all Pokémon speak normally throughout the fic, since not only does the game imply that the hero can at least understand Grovyle pre-transformation, but also, I personally think it's a side-effect of the Dimensional Scream. Now here goes…

**Chapter One: Solutions**

"Is this really necessary, Michelle?"

"It would be a lot safer, yes. It's for backup—"

"So you're saying we almost have what we need and we're holding back anyway?"

"Please. What if something happens?"

"I don't see how things could get much worse than they are now."

Michelle Black sighed as she scanned the assembled group. The Planetary Investigation Team, as it was called, was a motley assortment of Pokémon and humans, though mainly Pokémon; she could count the number of other humans in the group on one hand. They were all shifting impatiently as they waited on her to reply.

As she possessed the Dimensional Scream ability, Michelle was considered to be a fairly important member of the group, and yet, due to her rather cautious nature, she had a tendency to make the others impatient. Not that the current state of the world really helped calm anyone down… But she disliked the idea of rushing headlong into any solutions, as what they were doing was dangerous enough in and of itself.

"She has a point, you know."

Before Michelle could go on, a somewhat high-pitched voice chimed in for her. Celebi, the Pokémon who had organized the team in the first place, hovered over to the middle of the meeting area. As the group's focus shifted over to her, Celebi folded her arms.

"Really, what could it hurt, my dears?" Celebi twirled around, exasperated. "We've located four Time Gears, and five are all we really _need_… But given the short-term consequences this plan of ours will have on the residents of the past world, don't you think we'll be met with a bit of resistance?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" a Jolteon demanded, his spikes bristling. "We've been getting enough resistance here, despite the fact that everyone is suffering. Surely the Pokémon of the past won't be too hard to handle?"

"You didn't let me finish, dear Jolteon!" Celebi fluttered down towards him, giggling. "This is quite important! If any of the Time Gears we've found are particularly difficult to reach in the past, having one more for backup is really the best idea. We _could_ just go and find only one more, but we really should find two instead for security purposes."

"So then we can have an alternate if something goes wrong in the past," Michelle clarified. "It certainly wouldn't do to have our plan fail because we only went after the bare minimum. If we were to somehow get stuck with only four Time Gears while in the past, we'd have no way to finish our plan."

Jolteon growled slightly, but settled down. Reluctant looks swept across the rest of the group, but no one spoke up. It was still easy to see the uneasiness that had settled in, however.

"Look, we're getting close," Michelle continued. "Given the locations of the Time Gears we've found so far, I've got some fairly good ideas of where another one could be. I'll be using the Dimensional Scream to confirm my ideas, of course, and I'll be able to report back to you all at the next meeting."

"And everyone knows which location we'll be meeting at next, yes?" Celebi's gaze skimmed over the assembly as she spoke. "Remember, we can't go announcing this schedule at our meetings, in case of any eavesdroppers, so don't forget!"

A murmur of relief floated through the crowd as they began shuffling out of the clearing, each to go about their own duties. Most of them were assigned to do things like search for allies and try to discern who may be working for Primal Dialga, the heavy-handed ruler of the frozen world.

Michelle envied the other members of the Planetary Investigation Team in a way. Despite the fact that many of them ended up in direct contact with Primal Dialga's minions, and thus were constantly risking their lives to make sure her investigations went smoothly, there would be no progress at all without her locating the Time Gears. It was quite the heavy burden, and she could understand everyone's impatience even if she didn't like it; everything depended on how quickly she worked, but the pressure was immense.

A brief smile drifted across her face, however, as she collected her two-year-old daughter, Claire, who had fallen asleep during the meeting. Though she didn't feel safe allowing the toddler to come with her, Claire had inherited the family's Dimensional Scream ability. While unlikely, there was always the chance that the burden of locating the Time Gears would fall to Claire, so she'd have to get familiar with attending the meetings.

As Michelle propped Claire over her back, the little girl stirred slightly. Instinctively wrapping her arms around her mother's shoulders, Claire yawned loudly.

"Home, Mommy?"

"Yes, Claire. We're going home."

The pathway out of the small forest clearing was littered with branches. Several of them hovered in the air mid-fall, held in place by nothing other than the lack of a proper time flow; they'd obviously snapped right when the paralysis had hit the area, and no more cues remained to tell them that they should finish falling. Michelle carefully stepped around them, shuffling her feet slightly to disturb any footprints and leaving an obvious trail.

That was one of the truly confusing factors of the frozen world, she pondered. Given the fact that time no longer flowed, nothing should theoretically be able to disturb whatever state the ground was in; her feet still left imprints in the dirt and grass, however. The fact that such marks would linger without her shuffling to obfuscate them made sense, at least, as there was no wind or other movement to disturb them.

"Mommy, look!"

After they had gone a fair distance, Claire's voice rang out, interrupting Michelle's thoughts. Squinting, she could make out a small, round object on the ground several yards ahead of them. Michelle cautiously took a few steps towards it, and as they got closer, she realized it was a Pokémon egg. What in the world had a lone egg doing by itself in an open area?

Claire scrambled down from her mother's back while she was distracted, darting towards the egg. Shrieking her daughter's name, Michelle quickly caught up to her and grabbed her arm. True, the forest was far away from them now and they were out in an open field, and Claire was clearly focused on the egg rather than trying to run off somewhere… There was still no telling if something was out there waiting for them, especially since they had no idea how the egg had gotten there.

Looking down at the surprised child, Michelle suddenly noticed a few bloodstained footprints on the ground behind her. The feeling of dread in her stomach increased as she realized the footprints were leading right towards the egg. It was clear at this point that the egg's parents had been attacked, likely having dropped it in an attempt to escape. Given how the footprints suddenly stopped just a few steps away from it, however, there was a very strong chance that its parents had been captured and possibly killed.

It was yet another reason why they couldn't afford to make any mistakes in the Planetary Investigation Team's goals. The planet's paralysis led to such a smothering, oppressive atmosphere that the fate of the egg's parents wasn't exactly an uncommon string of events. The sheer tension made it easy to see why so many people and Pokémon had been driven to insanity and violence.

"Come along, Claire, it's not safe here—"

But the girl was trying to tug herself away from Michelle's grip, causing her to stumble forward. Claire's hands fell on the egg, and she let out a small, surprised sound and froze suddenly. Her eyes glazed over for a moment, as if she were focusing on something far away. Michelle gasped sharply, recognizing the look on Claire's face as the distinctive look of someone getting a vision from the Dimensional Scream; she'd been told that was the way she looked when she got her visions, and had seen that look on her father's face before as well.

And yet only things related to the Time Gears could activate the Dimensional Scream. As Claire snapped out of her vision and slowly sat down, looking very confused, Michelle incredulously knelt down next to the egg. The instant she touched it, her vision went white; the beginnings of her ability were quite familiar by now.

The scene that unfolded was quite different from the usual ones. Normally, the telltale signs that a Time Gear had once resided in an area led her to see how the area was in the past and where exactly the Time Gear had been located within that area, as well as the surrounding location to help her gauge where it was in relation to any other past landmarks. This time, however, she saw the silhouette of a Pokémon running through a forest — a Grovyle, she quickly identified. The Grovyle slowed down suddenly, noticing something ahead of him. There was a stone pedestal with a gentle blue-green light emanating from it, and the Grovyle approached it eagerly. He then noticed the Time Gear hovering over it, plucked it off the pedestal, and darted away.

The Dimensional Scream ended as abruptly as it had started, and Michelle was left utterly confused. She carefully picked the egg up as questions raced through her brain. It was pretty easy to see that the Grovyle from her vision would be hatching from this egg, and that for some reason he knew about — or _would_ know about — the Time Gears, but that raised a whole slew of problems. Why was he collecting them? If the egg she was holding now was going to hatch into that Grovyle, why was he back in the past? And most importantly, why wasn't she, Claire, or any other member of the Planetary Investigation Team anywhere in the vision?

At least the question of how the egg had managed to activate the ability had been answered, as there had been a Time Gear present in the vision. And at least now she knew that there was a Time Gear in an area that had once been a forest.

These facts didn't seem very comforting, however.

Setting the egg down momentarily, Michelle quickly slung Claire onto her back again. She then picked up the egg again, pace quickening as she continued the trek towards their current temporary home. It was quite close now, fortunately, the short distance from her Pokémon partner being the second factor in activating her ability. Now she was even more anxious to return, needing time to think about what she'd seen.

"Keep it, Mommy?"

"Yes, Claire, we're keeping it. For now, anyway… until we understand what we saw."

Michelle understood that she was talking to herself for the most part, as it would be difficult for the toddler to grasp most of what she was saying. Thinking aloud certainly helped her feel more organized, however.

The open area quickly melted into another thick forest. Ducking under branches was quite difficult while trying to balance both Claire and the egg, but the path was familiar. There was a very narrow cave entrance well-concealed behind several particularly thick trees, and it was there that Michelle entered.

Claire slithered off Michelle's back again and ran over to the cave's three other occupants — the rest of their family. Her twin brother, Andrew, was currently sleeping, curled up against their half-brother, a Growlithe named Jack. The Persian watching over them, their father, looked up at Michelle as Claire approached them.

"How was it — when did you pick that egg up?"

Michelle sighed as she made her way over towards them. Claire was shaking Andrew and Jack in an attempt to wake them, and Michelle sat down slowly beside them.

"Just now, Blitz. I… We got Dimensional Scream readings off of it, so I figured it was best if we keep it."

Blitz's whiskers twitched. "A Dimensional Scream from something besides a Time Gear?"

"Well, there was a Time Gear in the vision. The Dimensional Scream can activate off other things that relate to Time Gears, and it tends to be rather indirect when you'd really prefer something more obvious."

By now, Andrew and Jack were both awake and were staring rather intently at the egg. Andrew and Claire were both slowly tottering towards it while Jack merely cocked his head to the side curiously. As Claire touched the green-spotted shell again, it started to crack, as if conveniently cued by her touch.

Claire laughed delightedly as the shell continued flaking away, revealing the Pokémon inside. A Treecko weakly pushed himself away from the egg shards, flopping forward and blinking as he stared intently up at Claire. The two-year-old stared straight back at him, entranced by his large yellow eyes.

Blitz looked over in Michelle. "I presume you knew what it would hatch into?"

"I saw him as a Grovyle," Michelle replied slowly. "I'm not sure how he's supposed to evolve, not in this darkness, that spring doesn't work anymore—"

"I evolved," Blitz interrupted casually, watching as Claire flung her arms around the surprised Treecko. "We adapted, learned to compensate. It wasn't _that_ hard, you know. If we can be born into this world and live at all without freezing instantly, if Claire and Andrew can be the equivalent of two years old when time doesn't even flow, then Treecko here will evolve eventually."

The conversation had taken a very sudden, serious turn. That was Blitz's personality, Michelle knew — taking the simple and deepening it. But he was quite right, as usual.

Time _didn't_ flow, and its former effects shouldn't have been capable of continuing in the frozen world. It was another baffling feature of the planet's paralysis; it was as if the planet knew what it _should_ be doing and was instinctively rebelling against the unnatural crisis. Despite the constant night and the fact that typical day cycles didn't pass anymore, the imposed paralysis had always been more supernatural than physical in nature, given its cause. The effects were oddly partial, yet still omnipresent.

Yet analyzing the smaller details was unnecessary. Michelle smiled as she watched the newborn Treecko take a few wobbly steps, followed by Claire's jubilant clapping causing him to tumble over in surprise. She was certain that he'd be vital to reversing the planet's paralysis, and she was quite hopeful to see what changes he'd bring to the group.


	2. Legendary Explanations

_Author's Note_: This chapter contains more of my wacky future theories, attempts at explaining said wacky future theories, some drama, and the point of view of my heroine. Also, this is the last of the before-the-main-story chapters, hence why I need to get so much stuff established here. Next chapter we'll be getting into PMD2's main storyline.

**Chapter Two: Legendary Explanations**

"All right, everyone! I'm almost certain I know where a sixth Time Gear is, and I'm very close to confirming it. We don't have to deal with this much longer."

A sigh of relief floated through the small cavern where the Planetary Investigation Team was currently meeting. There was still a current of tension running through the group, however.

Finding all the Time Gears had taken much longer than expected, after all, and it wasn't helped by the fact that everyone — especially Michelle, Claire, and their family — were constantly on the run from Primal Dialga's agents. It often took at least a few months (or at least, what had been considered "months" in the past) before any real progress was made. They _were_ getting extremely close, though, as Michelle had just said. With any luck, it would only be a few more months, tops, before they were finally ready to put their plan into action.

"Well, any news is good news," a Wartortle replied hopefully. "And we're all glad that this is almost over."

"Thank you." Michelle smiled at the Water-Type, and then turned to the rest of the group. "I know this meeting has been short on my end, but Jirachi has some more news for you."

Claire frowned slightly as the Steel-and-Psychic-Type floated into the middle of the clearing. He'd been cheerfully entertaining her for the entirety of the meeting. Although the ten-year-old knew it was important, she couldn't help being a bit disappointed. Leaf had fallen asleep; it was nice that the Treecko had been attending meetings ever since she and Michelle had gotten a Dimensional Scream off of his egg, but with him asleep Claire was left with nothing to do.

"I've been working on pinpointing some areas that it would be safe to travel back to in the past," Jirachi started. "I've been around since long before Temporal Tower collapsed, so I have memories of many places from back then… In particular, there's a time fairly close to the Tower's collapse where a place called Treasure Town was in its prime. Once we finalize our plans and decide who's accompanying Michelle, I think that would be a good place for Celebi to send them."

Claire admittedly started paying even less attention at this point, as the meeting seemed to be dying down anyway. She wasn't a particularly large part of the meetings, despite having the Dimensional Scream ability like her mother did. Michelle was mainly the one in charge of finding the Time Gears; Claire was just a bit of extra help when absolutely needed. Andrew frequently told her that she paid less attention to anything than a hungry Munchlax would, anyway.

Finally, when Claire felt ready to fall asleep herself, Celebi seemed to be concluding the meeting. The pink time-traveling Pokémon had hovered towards the center of the cave while Jirachi finally settled back over by Claire and Leaf.

"All right, dears! This meeting may have been short, but we got some important information. See you again next time!"

Claire shook Leaf awake as the Planetary Investigation Team dispersed. Jirachi and Celebi both instantly vanished using their teleportation abilities as the Treecko stretched and yawned. In the space of just a few seconds, Claire scooped up the still-groggy Grass-Type, looked expectantly at her mother, and scampered towards the cavern's entrance.

"Come on, Mom! Let's get home!"

"So much energy _except_ during meetings…" Michelle sighed. "But yes, dear, we have quite a way to go this time."

Leaf was now fully awake, and he perched himself on Claire's shoulders as she and Michelle squeezed through the cave's small opening. His eyes slowly observed the dreary landscape ahead of them. Boulders frozen mid-fall dotted the horizon between bent trees that cast long, twisted shadows. Claire looked up at him as he scanned the area.

"We're going to _fix_ this, Leaf!" she said excitedly. "Actually, I guess Mom and Dad will. But it's going to look so awesome, I bet!"

"Too bad we won't get to see it," Leaf responded quietly. "But it is for the best…"

The Treecko's serious nature didn't deter Claire at all, though, as he was right on _both_ counts. Being unable to live in the repaired world would be disappointing, but Claire had reluctantly realized that their world didn't have much to offer, so forcing everyone to remain living there would be pointless. Not that she really enjoyed dwelling on such things; Claire tended to at least try to use as cheerful an outlook as was possible.

"Don't forget to shuffle, Claire," Michelle reminded her gently.

"I know, Mom," Claire sighed.

Shuffling slowed them down, and Claire liked doing things quickly. She knew covering their tracks was the safe thing to do, and since their current dwelling was quite a distance from the meeting they'd just left, they especially had to avoid leaving a trail this time. Walking more quickly wouldn't really help them too much in this instance.

There was little to look at across the broken landscape, littered with large chasms and smaller cracks apart from the twisted trees and frozen boulders. Claire had always been uncomfortable with the depressing scenery and heavy darkness, and disliked having to be traveling through it any more than she had to, which contributed to her fast walking speed. She always slowed down to shuffle as Michelle requested, but getting to their "home" and sitting around the light of a fire with Andrew and Jack was something she always looked forward to doing.

Leaf shifted often on Claire's shoulders as she followed after her mother. Claire herself was thinking about what the world would look like when it wasn't so dark, having been dwelling on the thought of the fire. It was something Leaf tended to shy away from, being a Grass-Type, but she knew he at least enjoyed the light if not the heat.

While it was difficult to guess specifically how long they'd been traveling, what with no way to tell time, they'd covered quite a distance when Michelle started slowing down. Claire accidentally bumped into her mother, causing Leaf to lurch forward over her head, but he remained seated on her shoulders. Michelle carefully grabbed her daughter's arm as she gestured towards a pit nearby with several rock outcroppings around it.

"This is where we stopped to rest on the way here, dear, remember? Let's continue home after we've had a break."

Claire carefully sat down on one of the few open edges of the pit and slid herself into it. It was just shallow enough that they'd be able to climb back out of it later, yet deep enough that with the help of the surrounding rocks they'd be hidden from view. After Claire's feet hit the ground, Leaf grabbed the dirt wall and climbed down to the ground. Sitting down beside him, Claire looked up at her mother, who was leaning against the wall with a guarded look on her face.

Suddenly, Claire tried and failed to suppress a scream. A dark bluish shadow had appeared in the air beside Michelle's head, with a pair of huge red-and-yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. Michelle whipped around to look and gasped herself as a Misdreavus fully materialized where she had just been standing.

"Oh, I apologize," the Misdreavus said in a somewhat cold, yet still oddly childish voice. "I saw you walking over here and was hoping you wouldn't mind sharing the space. There's quite a bit of room in here."

"That's true; there is enough room in here for you, but…" Michelle's voice had a hint of suspicion in it. "You were watching us?"

"I wasn't intending to spy on you, if that's what you mean. I just got here, myself, and happened to hear you approaching. Also, I assure you I'm not one of the violent ones."

"If she was, she would have attacked us instantly, wouldn't she, Mom?" Claire pointed out.

Her mother seemed only slightly more convinced. "Well, that is a good point, Claire… But we still can't be sure that she doesn't intend to have us captured."

Michelle had carefully avoided mentioning Primal Dialga, but the Misdreavus still seemed to pick up on what she was implying. She shook her head, causing the hair-like wisps on the top of her head to wave back and forth.

"Everyone's quite aware of Primal Dialga's paranoia; you don't have to mention him in order for me to figure out you're referring to him. I don't work for him. I don't expect you to believe me right away, but the only way for you to know for sure is to go ask him yourself, and I doubt you want to do that."

A hesitant smile crossed Michelle's face. "Very well. I'm Michelle, and this is my daughter Claire and her Treecko, Leaf. Would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?"

Michelle relaxed as she sat down next to Claire. The girl was happy that her mother had accepted the Ghost-Type; she couldn't quite explain it, but there was something she liked about the Misdreavus. They'd just met, yes, but the fact that she was conversing so normally with them was comforting. Oftentimes, Pokémon outside of the Planetary Investigation Team were fearful of others at best and downright violent at worst. Leaf still seemed a bit uncomfortable, however, but he managed to remain silent as the Misdreavus hovered down near them.

"I'm Missy. I envy you, to be honest," she sighed. "To have a family… You must be traveling to meet up with them, yes?"

The three collectively nodded, and Missy went on. Fortunately, she didn't pry any further at the moment, and just continued with her own history.

"My mother was killed shortly after I hatched. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time — a wild Salamence got to her." Missy's voice was barely over a whisper at this point.

"And what happened to your father?" Michelle prompted, her voice now laced with sympathy.

There was a long pause before Missy continued. Leaf and Michelle shared a very brief suspicious look, but Claire shot them as fierce a look as she could muster. Missy was obviously trying hard to keep herself together.

"I don't know what happened to him after that," Missy replied ambiguously.

Michelle put a hand to her chin and looked down at the pit's gray dirt floor, deep in thought. Claire didn't see what there was to think about, really. Missy's wide, multicolor eyes were clearly starting to fill up with tears.

"Can't we let her stay with us, Mom? At least for a little while? You felt bad for her earlier!"

Claire unconsciously waved her arms as she spoke, causing Leaf to instinctively roll out of the way. Sighing, Michelle bit her lip as she replied.

"Claire, you know we have to be careful…"

"But, Mom, we can't just leave her!"

"There are safety benefits for both sides," Leaf pointed out suddenly, his suspicion evidently gone. After having remained silent the whole time, his statement seemed to have extra emphasis. "She gets a place to stay, and we get to make sure that she's telling the truth."

"I suppose," Michelle replied, albeit extremely reluctantly.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Missy darted towards them, as if she'd hug them if she had arms. Instead, she ended up passing through them, and Claire giggled and the cold, rushing feeling. Contrarily, Michelle and Leaf winced as Missy reappeared behind them, giggling.

Claire broke into a giggle herself. Perhaps having an extra group member around would make things more risky, but it would definitely make things more fun as well.

* * *

"Why is your hair like that?"

Andrew shrugged. "It's Dad's fault."

Blitz's whiskers twitched as Claire laughed in response to Missy's question. The Misdreavus certainly always asked funny questions.

Claire had never seen a human with hair like hers and Andrew's, though — of course, there were very few humans around, in the first place, with only three others in the Planetary Investigation Team. Still, none of them had naturally two-toned hair. Claire's brown bangs gradually faded into the rest of her blonde hair, while Andrew's hair had the exact opposite pattern. Despite Blitz's indignant look, however, he often theorized that it was due to the brown patches of fur on a Meowth that led to Claire and Andrew's hair colors.

Missy always seemed quite interested in their family, even in such minor details. She would occasionally disappear for long periods, claiming she was investigating the surrounding areas for safe locations for them to move to, and then come back and ask the family questions. Apart from them specifically, she was also very interested in the Planetary Investigation Team, claiming that she also wanted to prevent the world from getting any worse, at least.

It made Michelle more and more uncomfortable, but Claire was always eager to answer. Missy had opened up to them right away, so it was only fair that they answer her questions. Jack, perhaps due to the loyal nature of Growlithe in general, seemed to warm up to Missy fairly quickly as well.

It wasn't until the next Planetary Investigation Team meeting, which had been scheduled to occur at Michelle and Blitz's current dwelling place, that Claire began to share her mother's feelings.

Celebi and Jirachi were the first two to arrive, as per usual. The two legendary Pokémon had put the group together, with Celebi's time traveling abilities and Jirachi's knowledge of the past, and they often dropped in to share information with Claire's family. As Celebi twirled around in the air, Jirachi settled next to Claire and Andrew as he usually did. A few other members of the team arrived shortly after, relieved to have found the right location.

"This meeting won't be necessary."

A large shape abruptly blocked the entrance of the cave as the unfamiliar voice echoed around them. As the few assembled members slunk backwards in surprise, a Dusknoir was visible for a brief moment before a Shadow Ball attack crashed into the floor. The ensuing explosion of earth caused the group to scatter.

Blitz hissed, sparks forming around his whiskers, and he launched a Thunderbolt in response. The Dusknoir easily blocked the move with another Shadow Ball, which he seemed content to use as a shield rather than an actual attack. As he menacingly moved forward, several Sableye followed after him, their diamond eyes glinting in the light from the fire.

"And you are…?" the Persian demanded.

"I suppose you have the right to know that much," Dusknoir replied coldly. "Primal Dialga sent me here to dispose of the team plotting his demise. Now, let's end this, shall we?"

Growls and roars filled the cave as Dusknoir swung his fist forward with an Ice Punch. The assembled Planetary Investigation Team members began responding with attacks of their own, with Blitz and several others — including Jack, the patient Wartortle, and the rash Jolteon — launching an impressive ranged assault while others moved in closer. A few more of the teammates had arrived by now, and, noticing the situation, joined in the brawl as well.

Claire had flung herself backwards, pressing her body into the cave wall and slinking down to the ground in an attempt to make herself seem smaller. Her eyes widened as she clung to Andrew, whose typical quietness would have been a comfort if not for the fact that a similar expression of horror had been locked on his face. Leaf, on the other hand, valiantly attempted to fire a Bullet Seed attack at one of the Sableye, but he was easily thrown back at them with a single stroke of Fury Swipes.

To say that chaos had broken out would have been a complete understatement. Dusknoir was dealing with member after member of the team, barely breaking a sweat as he shot out repeated Shadow Ball and Ice Punch moves with ease. The Sableye darted around, slashing out with their claws and then speeding backwards before counter attacks could be landed. Somehow, Claire managed to hear Michelle's voice over the din as the woman desperately kicked a Sableye away from Blitz.

"Jirachi! Celebi! Get Claire and Andrew out of here!"

Celebi finished firing a Magical Leaf move at a few Sableye before twirling over to Claire, who was now holding onto Leaf and Andrew so tightly she could barely even feel her hands anymore. Jirachi obligingly placed himself next to Andrew.

"This will just take a moment, dears," Celebi murmured.

"No! Mom! Dad!"

Claire hadn't realized that Andrew had shouted until he fired off a weak Thunderbolt of his own. The move didn't accomplish much apart from surprising a pair of Sableye; the two humans couldn't use attacks nearly as well as a Pokémon could, despite having learned some basics from Blitz. Instead, it alerted Dusknoir to their location, and the Ghost-Type whirled around to face them.

"Don't let them escape!"

His booming voice was the last thing Claire heard before the two Psychic-Type legendary Pokémon teleported her, Andrew, and Leaf out of the cavern. There was a strange speeding feeling in her stomach, and then her vision blurred as she started to pass out.

It was in that odd semi-conscious moment that Claire realized she hadn't seen Missy at all since the attack had started.

* * *

Planetary Investigation Team meetings were put on hold until the surviving team members had time to recover. Most of them had managed to escape relatively unharmed, or at least alive, though many of them still had at least some wounds to tend to. There had been some lucky ones who hadn't reached the meeting location in time, but those were few in number, and they had still been shaken; because they hadn't been able to join in and help, they somehow felt responsible for the outcome.

But most of all, the meetings were put on hold for the sake of Claire and Andrew. Both their parents, as well as their half-brother Jack, had been among the casualties. The two children had to deal with the loss of their family while Claire simultaneously had to get used to the idea that she'd have to finish up the Time Gear investigations. She often had team members asking her if she was really okay with the idea, and while she knew it was an attempt to delay the task to make her feel better, she couldn't help hearing it as them thinking she couldn't do it.

She would do it, though. The motivation to prove that she was just as competent as her mother had been was the sole thing that allowed her to keep up a mask of her usual happy-go-lucky personality despite the hollowness she felt. Leaf stepped up to the task for her sake as well; he readily became the trusted Pokémon partner that the Dimensional Scream required with the absence of Jack.

There was no other choice, really, but the two of them could at least pretend that they were more eager about it than they were.

* * *

The amount of time that should have passed would have been considered a few years to the past world before Claire managed to make any significant progress. Progress was still progress, though, as that cheerful Wartortle had once pointed out. While it had mainly been due to guesswork based on the locations of the Time Gears that her mother and grandfather had found, Claire was still quite proud of herself when she finally made a breakthrough on the sixth one Michelle had wanted to find.

One in a volcano, one in an illusion-filled limestone cave, one in a forest, and two in lakes had been on the list. Really, it had been quite easy to guess that there was a third one in a lake somewhere, and now all Claire had to do was confirm how exactly to reach that Time Gear. Jirachi had had an epiphany upon Claire's discovery, berating himself for not realizing it sooner; he'd apparently known, or at least heard of, the three Pokémon said to have guarded those Time Gears in the past.

"Unfortunately, Primal Dialga had Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf imprisoned shortly after Temporal Tower collapsed," Jirachi had explained. "As high-security prisoners as they must be, we'd have to be _incredibly_ lucky for them to be in any shape to help us at all. The one you've just found in Fogbound Lake supposedly had quite the security system besides just being guarded by Uxie, so you'll have to be very careful in your investigations."

Claire had simply given him a smile and a nod as she and Leaf continued searching. They couldn't stay in the vicinity of their target area for too long at a time, as Dusknoir frequently sent packs of Sableye out to hunt for them. The Planetary Investigation Team had managed to dig up quite a bit of information on him since his attack on them; he was Primal Dialga's main mercenary, and as such he knew quite well where all the Time Gears had been in the past.

It was fortunate, then, that they uncovered their biggest clue on a relatively "peaceful" trip. A rampaging Magmar had encountered Claire and Leaf on their way to the ruined lake bed and had very nearly given Leaf some severe burns. Fortunately, Claire had managed to briefly stun the Fire-Type with a weak Thunderbolt, allowing Leaf to get in several of his usual quick strikes to finish him off. As the two reached their destination, Claire had to suppress a laugh; it took a pretty warped sense of humor to find that kind of thing peaceful, she realized.

They quickly reached the towering landmass atop which the lake rested. Frozen streams of water jetted down from it, which had indicated to them that the lake was indeed up there. The landscape here was particularly ravaged, with more fissures than usual; Claire frequently wondered if all the former locations of Time Gears had been hit this hard as well. While the Dimensional Scream ability could always pick up the former presence of the gears, basic observations were always quite difficult thanks to the area's conditions.

"Claire?" Leaf called. He'd darted ahead of her, his agility always having been useful for scouting. "I think there's something you need to see up here."

She carefully shuffled over to him, leaning down to examine what the recently-evolved Grovyle was pointing at. There was a large stone pedestal on the ground in front of them, split down the middle. It was easy to see why they'd missed it before; a pile of rubble was surrounding it, presumably the remains of some kind of statue. There were a couple remnants still recognizable as the claws of something, but otherwise it was hard to tell what the statue could have depicted in the past.

"Well, you don't just put a monument at a place like this unless whatever the monument was of had some connection to the area, right?" Claire grinned. "I wonder if I can get a Dimensional Scream off this, then…"

Leaf nodded; clearly, he'd had the same idea. Obligingly, Claire put her hands on the pedestal's remains and took a deep breath.

She instantly tensed up, feeling her ability activate. While all she could see were vague outlines at first, Claire could eventually hear voices, and it didn't take too long for her to identify precisely what Pokémon and objects she was seeing. There was a fairly large group of Pokémon standing in front of what had to be the original, assembled statue — it depicted Groudon. The group around it consisted of a Corphish, a Meowth, a Chimchar, a Cubone, a Machop, a Vulpix, a Shinx, and an Absol, and they were obviously discussing the statue.

"_Hey, hey! I saw some kind of inscription on the base of the statue earlier!"_

"_Well, what did it say?"_

"_Something about the 'heart of Groudon,' whatever that means."_

"_There's a hole up there in the statue's chest."_

"_The 'heart of Groudon' must be whatever goes in there… So what could it be?"_

_The Meowth suddenly had a vacant look on her face as the group buzzed with conversation. She then turned to the Chimchar, who had been standing back a few feet with an apprehensive look on his face._

"_Try putting the Drought Stone in there!"_

"_Is that the stone I found earlier?"_

_He obliged, and suddenly, the area was blindingly bright._

"_What just happened? The fog's gone!"_

That was the clearest vision Claire had ever had, she realized as she snapped out of it. Leaf was now giving her a quizzical look.

"Well, what did you see?" he prodded.

"There's an item called a Drought Stone that we have to find, and it goes inside the statue. That lifts the fog in the area and will let us explore there," Claire explained, her excitement clearly audible in her voice.

"And that clears up the path we need to take when we get there?"

"It should!"

Stepping away from the statue, Claire couldn't resist jumping into the air and clapping her hands together. Leaf gave her an amused look; he didn't express himself quite as freely as she did, but she could tell he shared her excitement. They'd finally confirmed how to find the backup Time Gear, and they'd shortly be able to put their plan into action.

"So how exactly does the Dimensional Scream work?" Leaf puzzled as they began the trek away from the area. "I understand the basics of it, yes, but some of the finer points are more confusing…"

"Well, I know it runs in my family, with one child per generation inheriting it," Claire began, shrugging. "It apparently used to work quite differently, so until my grandfather accidentally activated it near an old Time Gear location, the ability was thought to have been lost."

"Why do Time Gears activate the Dimensional Scream?"

"According to my mom…" Claire took a brief pause at the mention of Michelle, but managed to continue fairly quickly. "…the Dimensional Scream used to be able to relay events that either happened in the recent past, or would happen in the recent future. Now, thanks to the planet's paralysis, time doesn't work properly anymore, obviously. Time Gears are, or were, the only things left relating to some kind of time flow, so I guess that's why their locations are able to make the ability work."

Leaf gave another nod. It was quite a bit of information at once, but it did answer quite a few things he'd been wondering about. There was one more thing, however…

"Do you know why there has to be a Pokémon partner nearby in order for it to happen?"

"It's mostly a character test, from what I understand. There has to be trust there, most importantly; a person incapable of trusting others is unable to use the ability, preventing a dishonest person for using the ability for harm. You can have a decent amount of distance between you and your partner, depending on how strong your trust is… I got my very first Dimensional Scream off of your egg when I wasn't right next to Jack."

"That makes sense," Leaf replied. "It's disappointing, though, that you have fewer things to get visions about as you would have generations ago..."

Claire laughed gently. "Of course. That would make things much too easy."

* * *

Traveling back to the past to finally set the plan into motion was perhaps the most risky thing they had to do. It was hard to imagine something more dangerous than outrunning Dusknoir and his Sableye minions, but there was one simple thing that put time travel miles ahead of the sinister pack of Ghost-Types.

The Passage of Time.

Celebi was still capable of using her time travel abilities on her own to limited extents, but thanks to the paralysis, any attempt to go far back enough had to be aided by her Passage of Time. The most unfortunate thing about the situation was that the portal was on a cliff not too far from Temporal Tower. Celebi herself frequently cursed their luck about the passage despite her usual upbeat personality. It had resulted from some kind of deal between a former incarnation of Celebi and Dialga (before Dialga had become Primal Dialga, of course), as previous versions of Celebi had often collaborated with Dialga to make their time traveling easier and stronger.

There was nothing they could do about it now, of course, except to cross their fingers and hope they could avoid running into any of Primal Dialga's underlings.

Dusk Forest was unusually silent as Celebi led Claire, Leaf, and Andrew through the twisting pathways. It was too dangerous to try to teleport directly to the Passage of Time, so they'd had to settle on passing through the forest nearby it in an attempt to throw off any pursuers. Normally, Dusk Forest was filled to the brim with hostile Pokémon driven crazy by its particularly bleak atmosphere, but this time, it was very suspiciously empty.

It was almost as if the inhabitants, in a collective moment of clarity, had somehow sensed that something important was about to happen. That was a rather generous assumption, however. No one in the group could shake off the sensation that something else had deliberately scared away the forest's residents, hoping that whatever that "something" was, it wouldn't turn out to be Dusknoir, or, worse, Primal Dialga himself.

Fortunately, Celebi knew Dusk Forest well, and it didn't take them long to reach the plateau that housed the Passage of Time. A small blue orb was glowing faintly in front of them; it was one of the only things in the world of darkness capable of generating its own light. The pink Pokémon flew over to it, humming a mysterious melody as she hovered around in circles. It began to expand rapidly, creating a door-like shape slightly taller than Claire. A few stray beams of light formed around it, creating a hallway of sorts.

Celebi then flitted over to Claire and Leaf as a resigned look spread over Andrew's face. He wasn't actually going with them; he'd merely come to see his sister for one last time.

"Good luck," the serious boy said quietly, putting a hand on Claire's shoulder.

"Thank you."

Claire hugged him, and Andrew's lips twitched upwards into one of his rare smiles. She then took Leaf's claw in her hand and stepped towards the portal. Her partner stepped forward with her, a determined look on his face. It was impossible to have done everything that they had without a sense of courage; it seemed impossible for them to fail as long as they were together.

"It's ready, my dears!" Celebi had an eager look on her face as the two approached her. "I have every confidence that you can put a stop to this dreary live we've had to suffer though."

"We will, Celebi! Don't ever doubt us," Claire grinned.

"You won't have to wait much longer for this to end," Leaf added. "We promise you that."

With that, Claire and Leaf simultaneously entered the glowing blue passage. Suddenly, the ground vanished from beneath them, and they began spinning through the passage wildly as history swirled around them. The light grew more intense the faster they traveled, and holding onto Leaf's claw became steadily more difficult for Claire could manage.

"Don't let go!"

How she could hear him was a complete mystery, as a loud whirring sound was now accompanying the ever-faster spinning. Out of the corner of her eye, Claire could see an odd, dark shape that sharply contrasted with the rest of the blue light, and a panicked feeling was beginning to form in her stomach. Whatever was casting that shadow was moving towards them much too quickly.

"Move over! Don't worry about me!"

It hurt to do so, as the look of shock on Leaf's face was obvious, but Claire wrenched her hand off of his claw and shoved him away from her. She then spread her arms out and somehow managed to position herself in front of him, guarding the Grovyle in the only way she could. The black blur then collided with her, and she felt sharp fingers rake their way over her body as it passed by her. The injury didn't even seem to register until she saw blood floating up around her.

"Claire! _Don't let go_!"

Leaf had somehow made his way back to her and was fiercely clutching onto her hand. A sense of numbness was now passing over her body; she barely even see her hand, let alone feel it. It was impossible to keep holding on at this point, and Claire felt herself slipping out of Leaf's grasp again.

"I can't!" she protested.

"What happened?"

Leaf's bewildered voice was the last thing Claire heard before they were flung apart. Pain tore through her body, as if she was being rapidly shrunken, and it ended with a persistent throbbing in her head. She felt herself crashing into something soft, suddenly wondering who she'd even been speaking with as she blacked out.


	3. A Chance Encounter

_Author's Note_: This is a _much_ lighter chapter than the previous one. The partner also gets introduced here; in fact, this is from his point of view, thanks to my little "let's change the point of view in every chapter" experiment. Also, I'm aware that in-game all the members of Team Skull are supposed to be male. I feel like the game is rather lacking in female side characters, though, and fortunately Team Skull doesn't impact the plot so much that changing one of their genders would ruin the story. Oh, and for the most part, I'm going to be having most other characters referring to Team Shadow by their species names, since I find it odd that everyone refers to you by your actual names yet go by their species names themselves.

**Chapter Three: A Chance Encounter**

Treasure Town was abuzz with activity despite the late hour, as it always was. Various exploration teams gathered across the plaza, with particularly long lines in front of the Kecleon brothers' shop and Kangaskhan's storage booth. It all looked so normal and so easy; they all went about their usual activities, restocking their supplies after their day's missions, unaware of the idea that this could ever be difficult for anyone.

Felix the Chimchar uneasily weaved through the crowds with his typical slow gait. It was a bit of a relief that none of the Pokémon in the area were paying attention to him. He'd gone through the plaza enough times that almost all of the regular visitors recognized him, and although he almost wished someone would greet him, he also didn't want anyone to end up calling attention to his obvious fear.

Sometimes Felix wondered why he even bothered trying anymore, as he was that time after he managed to push his way past Duskull's bank. Every single time he worked up the courage to go through Treasure Town and get to the Wigglytuff Guild, he would end up talking himself out of it anyway. Felix would always came up with a list of his faults and other reasons why he'd be unable to join, which seemed to grow larger and larger, and usually ran off before even stepping on the sentry grate.

But he insisted on attempting anyway. It was becoming something of a ritual, so he'd feel just as bad if he _didn't_ do it.

Finally, Felix arrived at the crossroads at the edge of town. The stairs leading up to the guild towered up over him, the building at their end seeming to taunt him. He gulped and took a few steps forward, having to mentally prod himself into gear.

Before the Chimchar set foot on the first step, however, a couple of the guild's recruits exited the building, apparently to do some evening chores, and he froze for a moment. Their voices were easily recognizable to him, as he'd passed by many of the guild's recruits when they visited Treasure Town; a Sunflora and a Corphish were loudly discussing the list of items they had to go buy before dinner. Felix took a few steps backwards, and then turned around and fled before they could see him.

His legs instinctively carried him to the nearby beach. Felix sighed and sat down cross-legged on the shore, trying to calm himself down. It was a bit pitiful, really; he hadn't even gotten up the stairs this time. At least it was easy to distract himself while he was at the beach; Felix couldn't help but smile as he watched the setting sun reflecting off the ocean's gentle waves.

It was also easy to lose track of the time while he was there. Felix abruptly shook himself after nearly half an hour, unsure of how that much time had managed to pass so quickly. Brushing the sand off his legs, Felix shook his head and started to turn back to the path towards Treasure Town. He'd have to try earlier the next day, when the beach wasn't such a welcome diversion.

Suddenly, however, he was acutely aware of the fact that he hadn't been alone on the beach. He hadn't been paying attention earlier, as he'd been too busy admiring all of the sunset's various colors, but Felix could now see an unfamiliar shadow being cast from around a rock. It was tempting to just run away like he'd done by the guild, but whoever it was hadn't noticed him, either… Cautiously, Felix tiptoed back down the beach, and he felt his eyes widen in surprise as he stopped.

A Meowth was sitting down quite close to the shore's edge, leaning against the rock as she scooped up a bit of water. Then she rubbed the water over her fur, frowning, as she tried to rinse out the blood that had been matted into it. She winced as a bit of the salty water stung the wound that was the source of the blood.

There was a deep cut that ran from her chin down the length of her body, stopping just above her leg. A slightly smaller but still deep-looking cut ran diagonally over her eye towards her ear. Felix gulped as he noticed that there was a small notch in her ear, though fortunately it didn't seem to have bled as much as the other two cuts had. What exactly the Meowth could have done to get such an injury was not something he wanted to think about.

She realized that Felix had been staring at her, and she looked up with a brief jump.

"Hi, there. I don't suppose you would know where this is, would you?"

She was currently trying to nurse heavy wounds, and she was more concerned with where she was? Felix paused, puzzling over her odd phrasing. How could she not know where they were?

"Um… the beach near Treasure Town? Why do you ask?"

After a pause, she shook her head. "I feel like that name should sound familiar to me… but I'm not quite sure where I've heard it before…"

"You really don't know?" This was getting weirder and weirder, Felix thought, but he refrained from vocalizing that idea.

"Nope." She grinned as she stood up and stretched, apparently having decided that she'd cleaned herself up well enough. "I don't really know why I'm a Meowth, either, but somehow this doesn't feel entirely wrong…"

Now Felix was sure his eyes were bugging out of his head. "What do you mean, you don't know why you're a Meowth?"

"I'm really a human, silly! That's one of the only things I do remember right now. Oh, by the way, my name's Claire… I think… Yes, that's right, it's Claire. What's yours?"

Felix's mouth moved silently for a few seconds. He was sure that if he had actually been speaking, he'd just be releasing gibberish. She was clearly a Meowth; how could she have been a human?

Well, that would in the very least explain why she didn't seem to know what Treasure Town was. Humans were practically non-existent in the area, so it was rare that any of them actually passed through the town square. Felix had never actually seen a human himself and had only heard stories about them. Still, there wasn't a way he could rationalize her being a Meowth.

He shook himself, realizing that she was still waiting for him to answer.

"I'm Felix. I live around here, so, uh… I guess I could… show you around a bit?" he replied awkwardly.

Claire's eyes lit up. "Really? You would do that?"

"Um… Should I not? Y-You did ask where we even were just now…"

There was another pause as Claire scratched the back of her head. "Never mind. Forget I said that. It just seems like I should know something that I can't remember again…"

Felix wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Apart from the fact that Claire had very mysteriously ended up on the beach without knowing where she was, she also seemed to have no memory of almost anything else she'd been doing before then. While he generally had trouble saying "no" to others, and he really did want to help Claire, he doubted he'd be the best Pokémon for the task, if only for his rather severe lack of self-esteem.

Before he could say anything else, Felix had the impression that there was someone behind him. Claire looked up as Felix tensed slightly, and she pointed over his head.

"Hey, are those friends of yours?"

He bit his lip, hoping it wasn't who he thought it was. Of course, it couldn't be that simple… Felix turned around to see a rather familiar pair. He definitely wouldn't call the Zubat and the Koffing "friends." They were more like "acquaintances," and that was putting it nicely.

Felix had seen the two of them around Treasure Town numerous times before, and they seemed to have a particular interest in him. He was unsure if they were in an exploration team or not, but he highly doubted it; anyone who had the time to pick on him as much as they did were unlikely to have the time to go out on rescue missions. It was probably his fault, though, really; if only he didn't carry his precious Relic Fragment around with him so much, they never would have noticed him in the first place…

"Hey, kid. You got that treasure with you today?" Zubat asked, her voice as impatient as usual.

"N-no," Felix answered defensively.

However, he unconsciously tugged on the strap of the bag he was wearing. Koffing picked up on the nervous tic, his eyes drifting down to the bulge in the bag, and he clearly detected the lie.

"It's in there, isn't it," Koffing stated more than asked.

"So why don't you just give it—"

Before Zubat could finish her sentence, there was a sudden crackle of electricity. The Thunderbolt soared over Felix's head and hit Zubat directly, causing her to shriek sharply as she tumbled sideways into Koffing. Felix felt his heart pounding from shock as the two Poison-Types focused on Claire. To her credit, Claire looked just as surprised as Felix felt.

"I-I didn't expect it to be that strong," Claire muttered, her eyes wide.

"Don't butt in, now," Zubat snapped.

Claire quickly raised her paw, and sparks danced from her claws. Another Thunderbolt zapped Zubat and Koffing, this one powerful than the last. This time, the pair slowly backed up, and then abruptly sped away.

Felix watched them leave, and then turned back to Claire. The Meowth still had a look of surprise on her face as she looked down at her paws.

"Why… Why did you help me?" Felix blurted out, only realizing afterwards that he probably sounded a bit ungrateful.

"Because you were nice to me?"

Claire's voice had a hint of confusion to it, as if she weren't entirely used to having anyone be nice to her. As Felix pondered that thought, another question popped into his mind.

"Wait a second! I thought you said you used to be a human… How'd you know how to do that?"

"Is that unusual?" Claire blinked. "I mean… Not that I really remember much right now, but… Well, like I said, something doesn't seem entirely wrong about being a Meowth, either… Hey, what was the treasure they were talking about?"

The rapid subject change took a minute for Felix to process. He was quite happy to dig the Relic Fragment out of his bag and show her, however. Felix gently held the medium-sized rock and laid it on the sand in front of him. Claire leaned down on all fours and trotted up to it to get a better look, her eyes focusing on the geometric pattern carved into it.

"It's my Relic Fragment! Well, I don't know if it's really called that or not…" Felix paused before continued more excitably. "I found that washed up here on the beach quite some time ago. I'm not sure where it came from, but it has this really impressive feeling to it, doesn't it?"

Claire was more focused on the Relic Fragment then on him now. Her paw moved instinctively out towards it, and she cocked her head to the side as she touched it.

"I think I've felt something like this before… Oh, dang it."

Before Claire could try to remember what she'd wanted to say, she looked down at the sand as a few drops of red stained the white. Her wounds had started bleeding again, and she quickly stood up and took a step back before the cut on her head could drip any blood onto the Relic Fragment. Felix swallowed nervously as he picked it up and Claire looked back out at the ocean. It was more than a bit strange; she seemed to be more worried about whether cleaning herself up with salt water again would be a good idea rather than the fact that she was bleeding.

"Hey! You know what?" An idea was magically forming in Felix's mind, and he wasn't entirely sure what had come over him. "I bet if we go over to the guild, they'll be able to find someone who can get you healed up. A-And then we could join, too!"

"The guild?" Claire repeated blankly.

"Oh, right, I guess you don't know," Felix mumbled. "It's the Wigglytuff Guild… They send out exploration teams for all sorts of things… Mainly to help lost Pokémon or find missing items, but they do other stuff too…"

"Well, that sounds like fun! Let's get going!"

The cheery tone to her voice was a bit surprising, mainly because Felix had been talking so quietly himself. It also stunned him how quickly Claire had accepted the idea, given how they'd just met. Despite that, he certainly wasn't going to object. He would never tell her this himself, but he'd mainly suggested the idea because he felt like he'd be less likely to change his mind if someone was there with him.

"I-It's this way," he said apprehensively as he started walking towards the pathway.

Claire immediately followed him, and Felix tried to pick up his walking speed. It was embarrassing that Claire was walking just as quickly as he was despite the fact that she didn't even know her way around...

It was fortunate that the guild was so close to the beach, or else Felix was sure he wouldn't even have offered. Of course, it was better than dragging Claire over to the bluff and letting her sleep there with her injuries untreated, but Felix was starting to wonder if her presence really would make him any less nervous as the steep stairs suddenly loomed over them. She _had_ helped him out at the beach just now, he reminded himself, so it was really the least he could do… Gulping, he trudged up the stairs as Claire gave him a curious look.

The aptly-shaped Wigglytuff Guild had deep shadows cast over it by the torches lining the pathway, making it look even more ominous than usual. Felix closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to calm himself down. When the Chimchar opened his eyes again, he couldn't help letting out a squeak of surprise; Claire was already trotting ahead of him towards the entrance.

"Hey, what is this weird grate for?"

She poked at it tentatively with her paw, but didn't actually step on it. Before Felix could answer her, a voice he'd heard several times before was suddenly screeching up at them.

"Visitor _maybe_ detected! Visitor _maybe_ detected!"

"Well? Who IS IT, Diglett?"

"Um… I don't know. They stepped away…"

Claire grinned sheepishly. "I guess that's what it's for... Come on up here, then!"

"W-Wait!"

Before Felix could protest further, Claire grabbed his arm and dragged him up to the sentry gate with her. He shuddered as the two of them stood on the cold metal bars. It was only a few seconds before the sentries continued, but it felt like an eternity.

"Are they BACK now, Diglett?"

"Yes! Visitors detected! Visitors detected! They're a Chimchar and a… um… a Meowth… I think?"

"What do YOU MEAN, you THINK there's a Meowth? Is there a Meowth OR NOT?"

"It is! It is! The feet are just a bit weird…"

Claire curiously lifted up one of her bottom paws to examine it. For some reason, Felix hadn't noticed it before — not that he really paid that much attention to feet — but there _was_ something a bit off about Claire's lower paws. They seemed a bit too broad and had a very slight curve to them, although they were still distinctly Meowth paws. Were human's feet shaped like that? He didn't really know, but it would certainly back up her claim…

"WHATEVER! Just let them in!"

With that, the bars covering the building's entrance clattered upwards rather noisily, allowing the pair to enter. Felix took a few more deep breaths as Claire started walking ahead of him again. How could she be that calm?

The foyer was much smaller than the outside of the building implied. Claire started climbing down the entrance ladder, and it took Felix a few seconds to convince himself to do the same. It was all right — Claire was there with him — he was finally _inside the guild _— he really couldn't go back now…

The room they descended into was significantly larger, as Felix had expected the above room to be. There was a surprisingly large number of Pokémon inside, despite the fact that it was fairly late in the evening. However, they all seemed to be finishing up small clerical duties, as many of them began to climb up the ladder that Claire and Felix had just come down. They all gave Claire rather stunned looks as they noticed her injuries, but she seemed to be ignorant of the fact, as she was rather excitedly looking around the room.

"So, what do you think they'll have us start off with—"

Claire was cut off by a rather loud squawk. The few remaining Pokémon, presumably direct recruits of the guild, all winced and hurried off to one corner of the room. Felix and Claire turned around to see a rather irate looking Chatot.

"I presume you two are the ones Diglett and Loudred were just talking about. Why are you just standing there? Come on down to the basement."

Felix blinked as Chatot approached yet another ladder and flew down the hole surrounding it. Shaking his head, he followed Claire as she obediently climbed down the ladder. Chatot was waiting for them in front of a door off to the far side of the room.

"Well?" he continued impatiently. "What is it you wanted?"

"We want to join," Claire declared.

Her ability to merrily ignore Chatot's tone of voice amazed Felix. Before he could marvel any further, Chatot's expression rapidly changed. The Flying-Type now almost looked ecstatic; he certainly wasn't glaring at them anymore, at least. He then turned towards the rather ornate door and knocked as well as his wings would allow him to.

"Guildmaster! We have some more new recruits, sir!"

"Let them in!"

Chatot leaned into the door to shove it open, beckoning towards Claire and Felix with his wing as he entered. Felix's heart rate increased rapidly as he followed the parrot Pokémon inside; he wasn't sure if it was out of fear, excitement, or both.

Guildmaster Wigglytuff turned around as Chatot led the two into the room. He absently juggled an apple back and forth between his hands as he smiled widely. Chatot sighed when he saw the apple; Felix didn't have time to wonder what the problem might be before Wigglytuff started talking.

"More friends already? Well, that's a good thing! Oh, wait just a moment!"

Wigglytuff twirled around and set down his apple, walking over to a large box in the back of the room. He dug through it, tossing out several seemingly-random items — Felix was sure he saw an oddly-shaped black key, among other weird things — before finding what he was looking for. After a few moments, he set down a pair of identical tan travel bags marked with the guild's logo, two guild badges, and a pair of plain white scarves.

"You'll need an official guild bag," Chatot said, sounding somewhat annoyed again, as his eyes fell on the tattered brown bag Felix carried his Relic Fragment in.

"Oh. S-sorry."

Felix wasn't entirely sure why he was apologizing. It wasn't like he could have known the guild was so strict with their gear… Chatot's tone of voice just made him feel so guilty.

"Well, anyway!" Wigglytuff was oblivious to Chatot and Felix's moods. "You'll need to come up with a name for your team, too! Chatot, get the registry!"

As Claire and Felix tied the scarves around their necks, Chatot turned towards a low shelf next to the box Wigglytuff had just been digging through. He carefully balanced a clipboard on one wing and carried it over to Wigglytuff. As the Normal-Type took the registry list, Felix blinked; he hadn't thought about a team name at all, despite how long he'd wanted to join the guild.

He looked over at Claire, and she seemed to be mulling it over as well. It was then that Felix noticed that her scarf was orange. Hadn't it been white before? He looked down at his own scarf, seeing that it was now dark blue, and was even more confused. Felix was at least sure the scarves had been the same color before… Shaking his head, Felix tried to focus again.

"Um, do you have any ideas, Claire?" he asked timidly.

"Something that was important to me before… the color black? No…" She seemed to be talking to herself, but then she spoke up more clearly. "How about Team Shadow?"

"That's fine with me…"

"Okay, I've got that! Meowth and Chimchar are Team Shadow!"

Wigglytuff scrawled the info on the sheet of paper on the clipboard. Then, he handed it back to Chatot, who carefully returned it to the appropriate shelf. After he set the registry down, Chatot started heading towards the door to the main room, giving Claire and Felix a quick glance. It was then that he noticed Claire's wounds — how he'd managed to ignore them up until now was a mystery, given how large they were — and he let out an alarmed squawk.

"Guildmaster! What should we do about Meowth?"

"What do you mean, Chatot? Oh, you noticed!" Wigglytuff was still using his happy tone of voice, which made the implication that he'd noticed earlier and just not said anything even more bizarre. "Let's call in Chansey's sister. Blissey is a great healer! Just show Team Shadow to their room for now."

"A-all right…"

Chatot sounded a bit weary as he led the two new recruits out of the room. Strangely, Claire herself was completely unbothered by Chatot's tension as they followed him down a long hallway. Felix nervously looked around the hall in an attempt to distract himself. There were several rooms branching off the sides, apparently living quarters for the recruits, as small tables and hay beds were visible in all of them.

On the second-to-last room before the end, a Vulpix poked her head out the door. She noticed Felix looking at her and, after letting out a giggle, darted back in to talk to the room's two other occupants. They were a bit hard to see from a distance, but Felix thought they were an Absol and a Shinx. Perhaps they were the other new recruits that Chatot and Wigglytuff had mentioned?

Chatot impatiently gestured towards the last room in the hall when he stopped walking. As they entered, Claire darted over to one of the beds and sat down without any prompting. Felix, on the other hand, shuffled around nervously as Chatot focused on Claire.

"We'll do what we can. Blissey should be here soon."

After the Flying-Type left the room, Claire flopped down onto her back, flung her bag and the badge off to the side, and spread her arms out. She seemed completely unconcerned about everything; in fact, she was grinning as she stared up at the ceiling.

"Hey, this is actually pretty nice! Do you think they'll let us start working right away tomorrow? Did you see that team over in the room next to ours? We should go talk to them later. Oh, who's Blissey, by the way?"

Felix was starting to get used to the quick topic changes. They were a bit strange, yes, but he was keeping up with them, at least.

"Chansey runs a day care service over in Treasure Town. Her older sister, Blissey, lives nearby — not actually in town, though — and she's got a nursing service."

"I see. Well, hey, let's get up and do something while we wait."

"Oh, that's not necessary, dear! I was in town visiting Chansey, so I got here quickly enough."

The large, pink Pokémon was standing in their doorway, smiling gently. Pushing a cart of supplies ahead of her, Blissey squeezed inside and gave Claire a quick look over. She then pulled an egg out of her pouch, cracked it, and emptied the contents into a vial on the cart. After adding in a few different berries, Blissey stirred up the concoction and handed it to Claire.

"I need you to drink half of that and pour the other half over your wounds, honey."

Nodding, Claire took a few sips, observing how much was left between each dose. She poured a little over the missing piece in her ear and the cut on her forehead, closing her eye as she did so, and the rest went over the long gash on her body. Felix's stomach lurched, partly because of how strange the mixture had been, and partly because Claire's injuries had a slight glow to them now as they tried to knit themselves together.

After a few seconds, the glowing stopped abruptly, and Claire's body twitched sharply. Startled, she took several deep breaths as she looked herself over. While she hadn't healed fully, at least now the injuries had covered themselves up with scar material; the scars were rather thick and rough, however. Blissey looked extremely worried as she examined Claire.

"That's the first time I haven't seen that medicine heal someone up completely. Just how did you get hurt, dear?"

"Uh…" Claire held her head in her paws for a few seconds as she tried to think. "I'm not sure… I just woke up on the beach earlier and saw all the blood on me… I don't even remember how I got on the beach."

"Are you sure you're even well enough to be working here right now? Sounds to me like you must have gotten some pretty nasty blows to the head from whatever attacked you," Blissey continued anxiously. "If you haven't got your memory in order, you should be resting up as much as you can."

"No, no, I'm fine." Claire was grinning again, though why, Felix had no idea. "It's good enough that I'm not going to be bleeding all over the place anymore!"

Blissey didn't look totally convinced. "Well, whatever makes you feel better… but I don't like it. I'll be staying around here for a few days to make sure you're actually fine, all right?"

"Okay. Thanks for all you've done already!"

"You're welcome."

Blissey shook her head as she reluctantly left the room. For a short time, Felix and Claire stared after her, and then Felix turned back to Claire. She didn't look much better at all, honestly, but she seemed happy enough… He found himself envying Claire, as he certainly couldn't picture himself being that cheerful in her situation.

Maybe Claire's attitude would rub off on him eventually. Felix certainly hoped so; she'd already helped him out against Zubat and Koffing, and without her he definitely wouldn't have forced himself to get into the guild.

It was with that thought that things finally began sinking in. _He'd joined the guild_. He'd wanted to do it for so long, and Felix was _finally_ about to become a real explorer. Before he fully realized what he was doing, Felix flung his arms around Claire, and she let out a surprised little meow.

"I-I know this is going to sound really ridiculous since we just met, but you have no idea how much this means to me! I couldn't believe that you'd do this for me so quickly… I've just wanted to join the Wigglytuff Guild for as long as I can remember…"

Felix sniffled, and he felt more pathetic than ever. Really, who blurted that kind of thing out? Claire probably thought he sounded incredibly stupid for admitting it, and he certainly wouldn't blame her if she did. As he started to back up, however, Felix felt Claire's paws on his shoulders.

"Are you crying? Don't worry about it! This is going to be so much fun, isn't it?"

Felix inhaled slowly several times before he pulled away, extremely embarrassed. Still, the fact the Claire hadn't laughed at him was a comfort. As he laid down on his bed and watched Claire curl herself into a ball, Felix managed a small smile. Maybe, just maybe, things didn't have to be as nerve-wracking as he always made them out to be.


	4. The Search

_Author's Note_: And now for someone completely different! It's about time I had one of these done from Grovyle's point of view, or at least half from his view, which has the added benefit of making me feel comfortable listing him as a main character on the fic's summary now. Also, for some useless trivia, the team he meets here is directly based on one of my favorite teams that I used on an actual run of Explorers of the Sky (as opposed to Team Shadow, whom I use frequently in Explorers of Darkness). There should also be far less info-dumping in the chapters from here on out, I promise.

**Chapter Four: The Search**

There was a persistent throbbing feeling in the back of Leaf's head as he tried to open his eyes. Feeling the thick grass beneath him was a slight relief; he hadn't landed in the middle of some town, at least. He managed to slowly force himself to sit up, grunting as he rubbed his eyes. Finally, after he shook his head a few times, the Grovyle managed to clear his vision.

The sight that welcomed him was astounding. Dozens of colors he never would have been able to identify before filtered through the sky, courtesy of the large glowing orb — the sun, Jirachi had called it — sinking below the trees and clouds in the distance. Multicolored rays peeked up from below the grassy ledge he was sitting on, giving almost every blade its own unique appearance. Leaf crawled forward for a closer look, still unable to fully stand; his eyes were unable to tear themselves away from the scene.

"Claire! Claire, look, isn't it—"

He cut himself off abruptly. Something felt _very wrong_; it was far too quiet. Pushing himself into a wobbly standing position, Leaf managed to whip around, and he skimmed the area with a growing sense of dread.

Claire wasn't there.

No, she had to be. How could they not be in the same place? Sure, she had let go of him there near the end… However, the way Celebi had once described the process, it was impossible for Claire to have ended up in a different time period than he had. _Where was she_?

_No, stop panicking_, the sensible part of his mind said. Leaf liked to think he was sensible, and took a few deep breaths. Claire had to be around there somewhere. There was a vast expanse of trees not too far away from him; perhaps she'd just landed in the nearby forest. She couldn't be too far.

Feeling satisfied with his rationale, Leaf gave one last look over his shoulder at the sinking sun before darting forward toward the trees. He made a few quick leaps and landed up in a tree's branches, allowing him to feel safer and giving him a wider view of the ground below. Really, a human shouldn't be too hard to spot, anyway, but Leaf preferred to be cautious.

Every slight movement in the direction of the ground made him stop in excitement. Every time, though, it was just one of the forest's Pokémon, or the leaves rustling in the wind — which he was sure would have felt fantastic if he could just stop to appreciate it — or even just the branches shaking under his own weight. The logical part of Leaf's brain was being replaced with pure fear the farther and farther he went; there was absolutely no sign of his partner anywhere.

He finally burst through the other edge of the forest, a tiny part of him still desperately hoping that Claire had also found her way through the trees and was there waiting for him. Of course she wasn't; the only thing that greeted him was an empty plateau. The sun was now set completely, causing the area to sink into the darkness he was so familiar with. It was as if nature itself was mocking him, adding insult to injury.

Leaf panted, out of breath, gulping in air that was actually not stagnant and dry as he sank to his knees. Whatever had happened back there in the Passage of Time, Claire had protected him from it, and as her reward, she was now out there alone somewhere. She was likely injured, and it was all his fault for not having faster reflexes, really — the rational part of his mind pointed out that he was being harsh on himself, but his continued panic drowned it out — and now he had no idea where she was and no way to help her continue their mission.

"_Claire_!"

Leaf gave one last desperate shout and was met with nothing but an echo of his own voice. Wearily, the Grovyle sank back down to the ground, pushing his face into the grass and trying to make himself just _calm down_. However, he subconsciously reached a claw out to his side, hoping beyond reason that maybe, possibly, he'd feel Claire's hand there as his mind shut down.

* * *

Warmth was spreading over him the next morning, and Leaf wondered if he was dreaming. As he awoke, however, his blurry vision alerted him that no, he wasn't dreaming; he was feeling the heat of the sun as it rose. A pale, slightly golden light was casting itself over the tree tops, and Leaf sat there and stared at the sun in wonder for a few seconds. He probably looked incredibly stupid, as light was so normal here, but he was so used to the darkness that he couldn't help himself.

His eyes started to burn and water after too long, but Leaf was reluctant to look away. As he cast his eyes to the ground, he couldn't help thinking _'Claire would love this,'_ and he clenched his claws together as he closed his eyes for a moment.

His reasoning was slowly returning now that he'd rested, and the Grovyle knew from listening to Jirachi's stories that humans were just barely more common in the past than they were in the future. Surely he'd end up hearing if Claire was anywhere nearby.

Furthermore, she knew as well as he did where the six Time Gears they knew about were located. If he just looked for them on his own, not only would they _have_ to meet up eventually, but gathering Time Gears would be productive anyway. Once they met up — _if_ they met up occurred to him, but he pushed that thought away — they could just combine the Time Gears he found with any that she had, and if he came across any areas without a Time Gear, he'd know that Claire had already been there.

Leaf would still much rather know for sure that Claire was all right, but given the circumstances, there was really little else he could do.

It then suddenly dawned on him that while his plan was fairly sound, he still had no idea where he was at the moment. That was just a _slight_ hindrance. If Leaf could just find his way to the Treasure Town that Celebi had meant to send him to, he could find his bearings from there, but until then…

There was a rustling in a bush nearby, disrupting Leaf's thoughts and causing him to whip around with an instinctive, paranoid glare on his face. He relaxed slightly but still kept his guard up when he saw a somewhat small Skorupi stumbling towards him. The Bug-Type looked up at him nervously and scuttled backwards.

"Y-You're not... going to attack me, are you?" she asked, her voice quivering.

Leaf hadn't noticed that he'd been raising the sharp leaves on his wrists somewhat threateningly until he heard how scared the Skorupi sounded. Guiltily, he lowered his arms and shook his head, and Skorupi sighed in relief. As she turned back around, Leaf realized he had his chance for directions.

"Wait!" he called, and Skorupi paused dutifully. "I, ah, I didn't bring a map. Would you mind helping me get to Treasure Town?"

There, that didn't sound too strange, he thought… It at least didn't give away the fact that he had no idea where he was, or the fact that he was from a different time period entirely. Skorupi mulled over his words for a moment before smiling.

"Sure! As long as you promise to help me a little… I'm not very strong, you see…"

Leaf nodded. "It's the least I could do."

It was quite strange, he thought, as Skorupi eagerly darted up to him to show him the way. While Leaf had always been able to rely on other members of the Planetary Investigation Team, trusting random wild Pokémon was something he'd never been able to do before. True, he certainly needed to find his way around, but Leaf's mind had jumped to Missy for a moment when the Skorupi had been considering his request…

"So what's your business in Treasure Town? Are you in an exploration team or something?" Skorupi asked casually.

"No, I'm trying to meet up with someone," Leaf answered. While Skorupi didn't seem too threatening, he still didn't want to give away too much, but his statement had at least been true. "Also, this may be a strange question, but you wouldn't have happened to see any—"

Before Leaf could finish his sentence, a rather large Staravia fluttered out of a tree near them. He squawked loudly as he narrowed his eyes at the two Pokémon below him.

"What do you think you're doing here near my flock's nest? I won't let you pass—"

Skorupi stared up at the Flying-Type in fear, quivering as she curled herself up into a ball. Remembering his end of the bargain, Leaf merely gave Staravia a cool glare and darted up the tree with a Quick Attack. He rammed into the panicked Pokémon, and Staravia shrieked as he tumbled through the air slightly. Leaf managed to leap onto Staravia's back, slashing at him with a Leaf Blade. The attack combined with the fact that Leaf was still sitting on his back caused Staravia to slam down to the ground, panting.

Leaf jumped away from Staravia, and Skorupi gave him an awed look. As she dashed ahead of him again to lead the way, Leaf looked over his shoulder at the injured bird.

"I apologize that I had to do that, but you attacked us first. We had no idea you'd made a nest here."

"You _are_ as strong as I thought you were," Skorupi complimented. "It's no wonder that you managed to get all the way out here by yourself. I just got lost…"

"I'm just keeping up my end of the deal."

The Bug-Type looked dismayed at Leaf's somewhat curt remark, but he was genuinely baffled. Defending himself had been a basic necessity before, and he didn't see why it required praise.

The rest of the trip passed mostly in silence. It didn't bother Leaf at all, but it did seem to bother Skorupi. She occasionally tried to engage him in conversation, and Leaf answered in as short of sentences as possible. He did feel a bit guilty every time Skorupi got a downcast look on her face, but it was surprisingly difficult to answer without saying something that would sound incredibly out of place. Leaf was somewhat grateful that the Staravia had interrupted them when he did, as he now realized he would have sounded extremely foolish asking Skorupi if she'd seen any humans around lately.

When they arrived in Treasure Town, Leaf had to stop and look around in awe again. The central plaza was just as alive with activity as Jirachi had said it was, with dozens of Pokémon taking care of business and exchanging greetings with each other. Skorupi giggled slightly when she saw Leaf's expression.

"You really are new around here, aren't you?"

Leaf simply nodded in reply. He'd never seen so many Pokémon gathered together so casually before, after all. Even the Planetary Investigation Team meetings had had an extreme undercurrent of tension, despite the fact that they were far preferable to running into groups of unfamiliar wild Pokémon.

It took him a few moments to realize that Skorupi was speaking again.

"Hey, my big brother's in an exploration team, so I can give you this Wonder Map he gave me. If you want it, I mean."

She'd been wearing a small bag around her neck, and she fished around in it with her tail. Her pincers clamped onto a rolled up sheet of paper, and she pulled it out and handed it to him. Leaf's eyes widened in surprise as he unrolled the map; Treasure Town took up a large portion of it, but every location of the past world was included in a fair amount of detail. As one of his claws accidentally brushed over a portion of the top-right corner, the map somehow presented him with a bigger presentation of the area's information, as opposed to Treasure Town's previous focus.

"This looks incredibly valuable. Why would you give this to me?"

"W-well, if you don't want it, you don't have to take it," Skorupi mumbled, blushing slightly for some reason. "It's just, you know, you helped me get back here safely… And you said you didn't have a map, and I can just ask my brother to give me another one…"

"No, no, I'm grateful!" Leaf corrected himself defensively; such generosity would take some getting used to, although he doubted every Pokémon of the past would be as helpful as Skorupi. "I'm just surprised."

"Oh, all right, then! Well, I hope you find who you're looking for!"

With that, Skorupi cheerfully scuttled away from him and called out to a Spoink in the crowd who seemed to recognize her. With a brief smile, Leaf looked back down at the map — a Wonder Map, Skorupi had called it — and looked back down at the area he'd selected. There was a forested area near it, and after he tapped the forest, the text _'Treeshroud Forest'_ appeared on the map, along with another detailed presentation. That had been one of the Time Gear locations that Michelle had found, he remembered; in fact, she and Claire had gotten visions of him specifically finding the gear there.

"Might as well start with that one, then," Leaf murmured.

With that, he rolled up the map and started walking back towards the edge of the plaza. Leaf stopped himself, however; he should have known better than to go out without supplies. Scanning Treasure Town again revealed a particularly long line in front of a stall that seemed to be selling various exploration tools. It wasn't much, but he and Skorupi had picked up a few coins while walking, and he should have had enough for some basics… Leaf eagerly darted into the line, wanting to get started on his trip as soon as possible.

* * *

In the depths of Treeshroud Forest, an exploration team consisting of a Sceptile and a Lucario calmly shoved through some of the thick underbrush. The Sceptile walked slightly ahead of the Lucario, her observant eyes scanning the area ahead of them. They were currently on a rescue mission, and they'd gone quite far without finding their charge, a lost Mudkip.

Of course, it had to be raining at the moment, and it was quite late in the evening as well. It already would have been dark enough in the forest as it was, and the thick clouds certainly didn't help matters. They really needed to find Mudkip as soon as possible before the conditions got any worse.

"Kerry," the Lucario called. "Wait. I think I feel something."

The aura-sensing Pokémon paused and closed his eyes, and his partner waited for him to continue. His eyes then snapped open, and he whipped around and pointed towards the path they'd just been walking on.

"Maryn? What is it?" Kerry asked warily; they hadn't seen many Pokémon on the way there, after all…

A blur suddenly rushed past them, and Maryn's eyes narrowed; the passing Pokémon was clearly the one he'd just sensed. Instinctively, he formed an Aura Sphere between his paws and hurled it forward. There was a low, startled grunt as the Pokémon tumbled to the wet ground.

Kerry and Maryn watched apprehensively as the Grovyle rose back to his feet, sputtering and trying to wipe some of the mud off his body. The tattered bag he'd been wearing, something he must have gotten second-hand from one of the Treasure Town merchants, had fallen to the ground and spilled some of its meager contents. He then shot the pair a glower, looking just as guarded as they felt.

"Pardon me. I just need to pass through here," he said curtly, though he seemed to have no malice in his voice.

"Whatever for? It's quite late, and I'm sure you've noticed the weather isn't exactly ideal," Maryn replied, a hint of sarcasm forming in his voice at the end of his sentence.

"Please, Maryn, he doesn't seem to mean any harm," Kerry interrupted gently. She then reached into her treasure bag, pulled out an Oran Berry, and handed it to Grovyle. "We apologize. We're just out late on a rescue mission, and everything is making us a bit jumpy."

The other Grass-Type took her gift, but he seemed strangely confused as he ate the berry. As the light bruises on his body began to heal, he gave them another odd look that Kerry couldn't quite decipher. Maryn seemed to be having trouble reading Grovyle's emotions as well, as he currently had one arm folded over his chest and was resting his head in his other paw; the gesture was completed by the Lucario's slightly-narrowed eyes.

"Thank you. I'm… also looking for someone," Grovyle responded after a pause, and he gave them a grateful nod as he turned forward again. "Good luck on your mission."

With that, he bounded away again, and the pair watched him for several seconds. Maryn shook his head as his arms dropped back to his sides, and Kerry gave him a questioning look.

"There was something incredibly strange about him, wasn't there? I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all."

"Well, yes, you're right, but this kind of distrust is still unlike you, dear," Kerry sighed. "It would be so much easier if we could just — wait! There's something in that bush over there!"

The very slight movement of the branches didn't go unnoticed with the Sceptile's affinity for the plants. She carefully stepped towards the bush and parted the branches, only to be greeted by yet another blurry shadow. However, this Pokémon stopped without having to be attacked, and moments later, a trembling Mudkip was sitting on the swamped path.

"I-I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I'll leave you alone, just please don't hurt me."

"Maryn!" Kerry cried. "Look, we're not going to attack everyone we come across—"

"You won't let me live this down, will you?" the Lucario muttered.

"Oh, we happen to be looking for a Mudkip," Kerry continued as if she hadn't heard her partner. "Would you happen to be the one who got separated from a Nuzleaf earlier?"

Mudkip nodded timidly but gave no other immediate response. Kerry sighed in relief and crouched down in front of the smaller Pokémon, offering out her claw in a sign of trust.

"We're Team Aura Blade, and we're here to help you. We saw Nuzleaf's request posted down at the Wigglytuff Guild this morning, and she's worried sick about you."

"Oh… okay," Mudkip whispered, although her voice still had a slight quiver to it. "I'm sorry. I was just so scared…"

"It's all right. We'll get you back to your friend in no time."

Before any of them could say anything else, a loud shriek pierced the air. Mudkip instantly curled into a ball again as Kerry and Maryn both looked around wildly. The cause of the shriek revealed itself shortly. A panicked Vespiquen was flying by them so quickly that her wings almost looked invisible. She was followed by a horde of the forest's inhabitants, all of whom looked equally terrified.

"Out! Get out!" she cried. "There's something happening!"

"What is it?" Kerry asked, a sense of dread growing in her stomach. The sheer panic of the group seemed unnatural, and there was a sudden tension in the air.

"The air's going bad — the rain is frozen back there — just need to get out!"

The Vespiquen's horrified fragments were barely comprehensible, and she took off abruptly. Team Aura Blade gazed out at the horizon, having to squint to make out any details through the dark clouds. However, there was an odd, slightly-grayish tint in the sky that was visible even in the darkness, and, even more bizarrely, the rain did indeed seem to have stopped moving further back in the forest. There was also a strange, tense feeling spreading over the area, and the fleeing Pokémon were constantly looking back over their shoulders with fearful looks.

"W-what should we do?" Mudkip asked nervously.

"Just come with us, dear, and hurry! We need to get you out of here anyway!"

Kerry bent down to scoop up the Water-Type, holding her in one arm as she and Maryn joined the constantly-growing crowd. It was difficult to move down the forest's already narrow paths with the swarm of Pokémon around them, but as the tension spread, at least the group's speed picked up. It seemed like an eternity before they finally reached the edge of the forest, and they kept running for several yards before they finally stopped to rest.

There was a buzz of noise as the group looked back at Treeshroud Forest, which was still visible on the horizon. The entire sky over the forest now had that unnatural gray shade to it, and while rain was still visible in the forest, the current rain seemed to be sliding around the forest somehow. It was as if the frozen weather in the forest was blocking out the rest of the rain.

"What was that just now?"

"I don't know. I'm not going back to check!"

"How are we going to find out what happened otherwise?"

"Hey, don't look at me!"

Kerry hadn't realized that she'd stopped breathing until Maryn shook her arm. Mudkip looked up at the two after glancing over at all the chattering Pokémon around them. After closing her eyes for a moment, Kerry tried to keep her voice steady.

"What do you think we should do, Maryn?"

"For now, all we _can_ do is take Mudkip back to the guild to meet up with Nuzleaf," the Lucario replied coolly. "And while we're there, we should tell them that _something_ happened here. Wigglytuff is acquainted well enough with Magnezone's police force that he can ask them to send an investigation squad over here for more details."

Kerry nodded. "That's perfect. Let's get going."

"I… I'm lucky you found me when you did," Mudkip said shakily.

"Don't worry about it, dear," Kerry answered, although she was just about as nervous as the smaller Pokémon was. "You're all right now."

Kerry and Maryn managed to weave their way through the crowd of Pokémon with a bit of effort. After they managed to get past the group, they saw a rather familiar Pokémon darting away. The Grovyle they'd seen earlier was a bit further ahead of them on the path, and he didn't seem to have noticed them yet.

"Oh! Did you find who you were looking for?" Kerry called.

Grovyle stopped abruptly, skidding slightly as he turned around, which caused his bag to crash into his side; it seemed slightly heavier than before, as there was a slight thump as it collided with his body. He recognized them as well, and he shook his head. There was a rather rushed feeling about him this time that Kerry hadn't sensed earlier.

"She wasn't there. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to keep looking…"

He hurried away without giving either of them a chance to answer. Maryn narrowed his eyes again as he glanced over at Kerry.

"Don't you think he's a bit odd _now_?"

"What's odd about him?"

Kerry was trying to deflect the question, but Maryn obviously knew she understood what he meant.

"We saw him right before that incident happened, and now he's acting incredibly suspicious."

"Well, until we have more information, I'm not going to be so hasty in judging him," Kerry answered, her calm tone hiding the fact that she was starting to wonder if the Lucario was right. "Come on, we shouldn't keep Nuzleaf waiting any longer."

With that, Kerry let Mudkip jump back down to the ground, and the trio started walking away from the forest. They traveled in utter silence, as the relief they would have felt was eclipsed by an undercurrent of dread that none of them really wanted to discuss…


	5. Teamwork

_Author's Note_: And back to Claire! For the record, I'm not going to be covering every single mission that you do in-game, mainly because I feel like the switching-points-of-view-every-chapter format that I'm going with would drag that out too much. I'll still at least be making reference to the most important ones that don't get specifically written about, however. This chapter is here to introduce a lot of characters that I think will be really fun to write later.

**Chapter Five: Teamwork**

"…And then everyone died! The end."

"That was a _terrible_ ending, Heliona. Absolutely boring."

"It was scary, by golly!"

Chatter arose in the crowded apprentice bedroom. Nearly every one of the guild's recruits had crammed into a room meant for only three of them. Chatot would have their hides if he knew how late they were staying up, but none of them could bring themselves to care at the moment.

It had been just a couple of weeks since Claire and Felix had signed on as recruits, but it was a sign of how close all the guild members were that Team Shadow were a part of this little get-together. Bidoof, another fairly new recruit, had invited them over into the room he shared with Corphish and Loudred to get to know them better. Then, one thing led to another, and everyone else had just piled in.

Currently, Heliona the Vulpix had just finished narrating a fictional tale of an exploration team who had gotten lost at sea, with the story getting more and more ridiculous embellishments until it had ended abruptly. Her team had joined the guild just days before Claire and Felix had; perhaps that had been part of the reason why they'd been the first ones to barge into Bidoof's room. Heliona's two teammates had had exact opposite reactions to the ending of her story. Sydney the Absol had merely rolled his eyes and shot out a sarcastic remark; Leon the Shinx was silent, his eyes wide with terror as he clung to Bidoof.

"Hey, I worked hard on that story, Sydney," Heliona retorted. "Let's see you do better!"

She seemed to be ignoring the fact that Croagunk and Corphish were doubled over in laughter at some of the story's more outlandish points — right before the end, it had featured a giant Mantyke that could somehow use Flamethrower, for instance. The Absol merely sighed, however.

"Too bad you can't put that much effort into reading the Wonder Map when we go out on missions," he muttered.

"My sense of direction isn't that bad!"

"Oh, has anyone seen Sunflora?"

Chimecho's sudden question was likely her attempt at preventing an argument. It was at that point that the assembly realized that the Grass-Type hadn't been in the room the whole time. Claire folded her arms as she attempted to think.

"Didn't she leave for a mission right before we did?" she asked, turning to Felix.

"Yeah, but I didn't see her when she got back," he replied. "I heard it was something really important, though…"

"I'll go check our room."

As Chimecho floated out of the room, the recruits turned to Team Shadow. The storytelling rounds seemed to have been forgotten, as they started babbling excitedly about other things.

"Hey, hey, didn't you guys do something important today too?" Corphish asked. "Speaking of missions and all…"

"Oh, yeah." Claire frowned. "Chatot sent us over to that waterfall… Did anyone else know that there was a cave behind there?"

"Everyone knows that," Croagunk answered. "That's not what he had you looking for, is it? Meh-heh!"

"Oh," Felix croaked. "It totally was—"

Felix was cut off by a rather irate screech. All the recruits instinctively covered their ears as they turned to the door. Naturally, Chatot himself had just appeared in the room, glowering impressively.

"What are you all still doing awake? Team Lightning, Team Shadow, get to your own rooms this instant!"

"Y-Yes, sir," the five rookies chorused, grumbling.

As they shuffled out into the hall, Claire stifled a yawn. In a way, she was almost appreciative that Chatot had interrupted the gathering; she hadn't realized how tired she was until then. Still, it _had_ been quite fun…

Heliona was babbling excitedly until they passed by Team Lightning's room. After Sydney and Leon reluctantly headed inside, the Fire-Type looked over her shoulder at Claire and Felix.

"Hey, let's hang out again tomorrow night!"

"Sure thing!"

Claire matched Heliona's cheerful expression before she and Felix headed into their room. Felix sighed and flopped down onto his bed, laying on his stomach and resting his chin on his folded arms. He looked up at Claire as she sat down, and he smiled tentatively.

"I-I was so worried at first, but everyone here is really nice, you know?"

Claire nodded enthusiastically. "And it's nice that we're not the only rookies, too!"

As she lay down, Claire rolled over and faced Felix. The Chimchar was watching at her hesitantly; she noticed his eyes flicker towards her scars, but he looked away quickly. Surprisingly, he seemed to have taken the longest to get used to her injuries, though it had stopped bothering Claire a while ago.

As usual, she ignored the gesture. Felix tended to be generally nervous about almost everything, she'd realized. Under the nervousness, however, he seemed to have gotten attached to her right away; the two conflicting emotions very vaguely reminded her of _someone_, though she couldn't remember who she was trying to think of. Besides, it really was late, and Claire didn't want to agonize over her memory problems when she needed to get some sleep.

Stifling a yawn, Claire reached over to give Felix the customary pat on the shoulder she always gave him before bed. Felix smiled as he started to close his eyes.

"Good night, Claire," he mumbled sleepily.

Claire yawned again, and with that, she closed her eyes as well. Fortunately, it never took her very long to fall asleep; mornings always came too quickly at the guild, and she knew the next day would be no exception.

* * *

"_Smiles go for miles_!"

"All right, recruits, get to work!"

"_Yes, sir_!"

As the apprentices dispersed, many of them still looked tired from the previous night's gathering. Chatot sighed as he turned to Teams Lightning and Shadow; as usual, they were waiting for specific orders. He waved absently at them as he turned towards Wigglytuff's room, no doubt to sort through some new information and reports.

"Just stick with what's posted on the bulletin boards today," he told them hastily.

"Race you there, Claire!"

Heliona shouted as she ran towards the ladder leading to the next floor. Laughing, Claire darted after her as the rest of their teams gave them exasperated looks. Sydney, Leon, and Felix joined them on the second floor several moments later, and Sydney rolled his eyes.

"Don't say anything, Sydney! Oh, hey, let's look at the outlaw listings today."

Without giving either of her teammates a chance to reply, the Vulpix dashed over to the appropriate bulletin board. Leon followed her immediately, but Sydney was muttering under his breath. Claire covered her mouth with a paw to suppress her giggling as she looked over at Felix.

"They're really fun, huh? I guess if they're taking some outlaw missions, we should check over at the regular jobs instead."

"Yeah, that sounds good… You know, it's weird how they're the only ones here who call us by name, though," Felix replied.

"True, but—"

"HEY! Meowth! Chimchar! You've got a VISITOR!"

Loudred's voice interrupted Claire's sentence, and the Pokémon himself was visible moments later. He jumped down past the last few rungs of the ladder leading to the top floor, and he quickly approached the two rookies.

"This early in the morning? Won't Chatot get upset with us?" Felix asked timidly.

"It's for a rescue mission, OBVIOUSLY! I wouldn't come TELL you otherwise," Loudred answered. "Now get UP THERE!"

Claire and Felix headed for the ladder themselves, with Felix walking slightly behind Claire as usual. After they exited the tiny entry foyer, they saw a small Cubone pacing near the grate. She looked up as they approached, and Claire smiled as she darted over to them.

"Are you our guest?"

"Y-yes," she stammered. "You two are the ones who caught that outlaw Drowzee, right?"

Claire nodded; she and Felix had grown used to Pokémon asking them about their first outlaw mission. They'd had no idea he was so infamous at the time, of course, but it had been quite the talk of Treasure Town in the days following Drowzee's capture. Looking relieved at the confirmation, Cubone went on in a rush.

"I think it would be fine to ask for your help, then… One of my friends, a Machop, heard about that cave behind the waterfall and wanted to go exploring there, but we got separated. Could you two look for her? I wanted to go myself, but I got knocked out and used up our last Reviver Seed trying to get out of there…"

"No problem!" Claire grinned. "Let's go, Felix!"

She grabbed Felix by the wrist and headed towards the stairs leading to the crossroads. Felix looked a bit downcast, no doubt still upset that everyone else seemed to know about their "new discovery" already.

"Thank you so much!" Cubone called after them.

"We'll be back soon! Don't worry about it!"

* * *

"This still makes me so scared…"

Felix clasped his hands together as he and Claire arrived in front of the pounding waterfall. Taking a step forward, Claire tugged on Felix's shoulder and then grabbed him by the wrist again to pull him along.

"Come on! You did just fine yesterday," she said gently.

"But…"

"Now let's go!"

"W-wait!"

Letting out another laugh, Claire suddenly ran forward, dragging Felix behind her. Once they reached the edge of the plateau, she leapt towards the waterfall, with Felix clinging to her paw more and more tightly. After they tumbled through the falls and landed in the cave, Claire shook herself off, causing her fur to stick up as the water showered off of her. Felix's eyes were still wide and terrified, and she carefully helped him up.

"See? You're all right. Now let's go find Machop, okay?"

Felix nodded numbly and trailed after Claire. She cautiously looked around Waterfall Cave's winding hallways, avoiding the large puddles of water whenever possible. Claire had picked up exploring quickly enough, learning to be attentive despite the fact that she found it fun. There was something oddly familiar about it, though Claire couldn't place exactly why she felt that way.

Still, there were times when she felt like she was being _too_ cautious, and she wondered if that related to something that had happened before she'd washed up on the beach. In several of their earlier explorations, Felix had pointed out that she was shuffling her feet oddly, as if she was trying to avoid leaving a discernible trail. Claire had stopped that habit eventually, but she often thought about possible reasons she would have had for needing to hide the way she was going.

She was abruptly snapped out of her thoughts by Felix shouting, "Claire! Look out!"

Since she hadn't been watching where she was going, Claire crashed into a Tangela. They both stumbled backwards, and then the Grass-Type scowled at her and extended one of his vines.

"Hey, watch it," he growled, whipping the appendage forward.

Claire hissed instinctively when the vine wrapped tightly around her arm. She leaned forward and scratched at the vine, hoping Tangela would loosen up. It instead had the opposite effect; Tangela cried out in surprise and tightened his grip on her.

Felix nervously stepped forward and shot an Ember attack at Tangela. His vine immediately retracted as the flames scorched several places on his body. Shrieking, Tangela turned around and fled.

Claire sighed in relief, then grinned and flung her arms around Felix's shoulders. He gave her a startled expression as she pulled back.

"Thanks for that, really! Hey… do you hear a voice up ahead?"

"Um… no?"

Felix looked confused as Claire's ears twitched. The tunnel branched in several directions ahead of them, but Claire's sharp hearing easily picked up where sounds were coming from. After just a few turns, she and Felix arrived in a small chamber, and the voice became clearer.

"Hey, now, we can still patch this up, can't we? _Ouch_! Oh, so you're _that_ type, huh? I could go for that…"

A Poliwag and a Grimer had cornered a Machop up against the wall, and the Poliwag had just shot a Water Gun at the Machop. The Fighting-Type was covered in bruises, implying that she'd gotten herself into several scrapes before this one. She attempted to lash out at the Poliwag with a Low Kick, but Poliwag dodged it easily.

Claire obligingly shot a Thunderbolt at Poliwag, and he squeaked in surprise as he tumbled over. He then promptly scampered away and dove into a stream leading out of the room. Following Poliwag's retreat, Grimer whipped around with a glare, and Felix and Claire simultaneously attacked with an Ember and Shadow Ball. Grimer's eyes slid out of focus as he collapsed into a puddle, mouth open slightly, and Felix sighed in relief.

Before Claire could turn to introduce herself to Machop, she was suddenly being tackled to the ground. Machop was sitting on Claire's stomach, her hands down on the ground around Claire's head, and she was grinning broadly.

"Ooh, someone's got to be a hero, huh? That's so adorable, but I was totally in charge of that situation!"

"Um…" Claire blinked, and she attempted to pull at Machop's arm to get her to move. "It's good that you think that, I guess, but Cubone asked us to come help you…"

"Ah, that Rin! She doesn't think I can handle myself, does she?"

Machop sprung off of Claire, putting a hand on her hip and frowning. Nervously, Felix tugged on his scarf and displayed his guild badge, trying to catch Machop's attention.

"But, uh, she's waiting for us over at the Wigglytuff Guild, so we really should get going…"

"Well! It would be rude of me to refuse two cuties like you, and Rin _would_ be overly-worried about me… Lead the way!"

Machop grinned again as Felix and Claire turned around to show her out, and she stood a bit too close to them the whole way…

* * *

"_Iris_!"

Cubone flung her arms around Machop in relief when Felix and Claire returned to the guild. The Ground-Type had moved inside in front of the bulletin boards and had been pacing anxiously again when the trio arrived. Machop merely patted Cubone on the back and smiled confidently when Cubone stepped back.

"No need to worry! It only would have taken me a little bit longer to get back without these guys."

Although it was hard to fully read Cubone's expression thanks to her helmet, her eyes clearly showed disbelief. She'd obviously noticed the fact that there were still a few light scratches on Machop's body, although Machop herself didn't seem to care.

"Still! Do you have to run off by yourself all the time?" Cubone sighed, and then faced Claire and Felix. "I'm sorry. We don't have much of a way to repay you, but… Would you mind if we joined your group? We could help you out on missions…"

"What? Rin! You can't just decide something like that."

"But, Iris, it would be a lot safer! Besides, Team Shadow has a good reputation; haven't you heard?"

"Why didn't you tell me you guys are Team Shadow? Can we join? Please?"

Claire and Felix exchanged thoughtful looks. They'd remained silent through the conversation, but, as strange as it had been, extra teammates would definitely be helpful… Team Lightning had more than two members, after all. Surely it wouldn't be too hard to get Rin and Iris signed up.

"Well, I've got to warn you… some of the guild members are a bit, ah, 'interesting,' shall we say," Claire warned. "But I don't see why not! We'll just have to ask Chatot. Come on down!"

She and Felix headed towards the ladder leading to the basement, and Rin and Iris obediently followed them. Sure enough, Chatot was in his usual place in front of Wigglytuff's room, mulling over a few forms he had spread out in front of him. He looked up impatiently as Claire approached him.

"Yes? What is it?" he snapped.

"We've got some Pokémon who want to join our team. Is that allowed?"

"Why, of course it's allowed!" Chatot's mood and tone of voice did the familiar flip it had done when Claire and Felix had arrived. "Just let me alert the Guildmaster — wait right here!"

Wigglytuff's door was cracked open, and Chatot didn't bother to knock as he hopped inside. His voice was slightly audible, though Wigglytuff seemed to be unresponsive. Chatot then squawked loudly, and, after a sharp crashing noise, the Flying-Type sighed quite noisily.

Rin looked incredibly confused, though Iris didn't seem to mind the bizarre behavior. When Chatot came back out of the room, Rin managed to force the same excited look onto her face that Iris was wearing.

"Come in, come in — Meowth, Chimchar, we need you in here too, so hurry it up!"

The four entered the room, and Wigglytuff gave them his usual cheerful smile. He immediately tossed aside the apple he'd been holding and started digging through his box of exploration supplies as he spoke.

"More friendly friends! Oh, this is so exciting! Here you go!"

Wigglytuff handed Rin and Iris each a treasure bag, a scarf, and a badge. They looked briefly over at Claire and Felix for confirmation, and then pinned the badges onto their own scarves before tying the cloth around their necks. Claire observed with a bit of fascination as Rin's scarf turned a shade of brown that matched her body quite well, while Iris's scarf became an intense red.

While Wigglytuff had been getting the supplies out, Chatot had taken the team registry list from the shelf it always sat on. He hastily flipped through the papers on the clipboard, stopping when he reached the sheet with Team Shadow's information. After he set it down in front of them, he gave all four of them a quick glance.

"Cubone and Machop both need to sign the list, and I need Meowth and Chimchar to put an approval signature at the bottom. That will be all."

They did as told, and Chatot waved a wing at them as he returned the registry to Wigglytuff.

"Show them to your room, Team Shadow! I expect you all to be ready bright and early tomorrow morning as usual."

Claire and Felix shared a grin as they led Rin and Iris out of Wigglytuff's room. Rin looked a bit unsure of the situation, but Iris kept up her excited look. As they walked down the residential hallway, Iris started babbling again.

"So, what kinds of totally awesome missions do we get to do? Do we get to be heroes or what? Oh, hey, what are the other recruits like? Are they all as cute as you two are?"

"Iris…" Rin groaned, poking the Machop with her bone club. "Don't start that now. We're going to have to focus!"

"You're so serious all the time! Relax once in a while, will you?"

"It's all right," Claire cut in as they reached their bedroom. "I mean, we are pretty busy, but the other recruits were great about making us feel at home!"

Iris flopped down stomach-first onto one of the beds while Rin sat down carefully. Before Iris could say anything else, Chimecho poked her head into the room, ringing her bell softly. Felix, Rin, and Iris all jumped at the noise.

"Dinner's ready, you guys! Your new teammates are free to join us, too!"

Chimecho proceeded to leave the room, and Iris jumped out of the bed right away. It didn't take much prompting for her to follow Claire and Felix out of the room, though Rin trailed along more hesitantly.

"This will be a good way for you guys to meet the rest of the guild members. Race you there!"

Claire dashed out of the room, with Iris not far behind. Heliona heard the noise from Team Lightning's room and joined in the mad dash for dinner seconds later, with Sydney and Leon wearing the same confused expressions that Felix and Rin had. As they neared the kitchen, Claire looked over her shoulder at Iris; the Machop was already engaging Heliona in conversation, and Claire had no doubt that her new teammates would fit right in at the guild…


	6. Alone

_Author's Note_: Back to Grovyle's point of view… Limestone Cavern was one of my favorite Time Gear locations, and I wanted to include more of my ideas of what Grovyle was thinking as he went on his side of the quest. Ditto didn't get much development in my opinion, so I kind of played around with how I think he would have reacted to Grovyle. Oh, and just for the record, I may or may not be able to keep updating weekly, as school just started for me. Just so you know…

**Chapter Six: Alone**

The most difficult part of the quest for the Time Gears was all the _waiting_ Leaf had forced himself to do.

He'd spent a couple of days going back and forth between Treasure Town and Treeshroud Forest, returning to the area just in case Claire showed up. The halted time in the area didn't bother him; he was used to it. That didn't stop him from feeling guilty when he saw how it was affecting the forest's residents, however. They'd all returned to their home, but the fact that it was perpetually dark, in sharp contrast to the rest of the world, was clearly taking its toll on them.

To make matters worse, Leaf knew he was letting himself dawdle by hoping Claire would show up. He needed to get on with his mission, as he knew he had a limited amount of time before Temporal Tower would collapse. Eventually, he forced himself to stop lurking around Treeshroud Forest, instead opting to stay around Treasure Town more often in an attempt to gather information.

Word eventually spread of what had happened in the forest, though fortunately no one yet realized that Leaf had been the one to take the Time Gear. Still, that exploration team he'd met had clearly been suspicious of him — or at least the Lucario had been — and thus Leaf was constantly paranoid that Team Aura Blade would put two and two together. He hid in the shadows of trees and bushes whenever possible when listening in on Treasure Town's residents, just to be on the safe side.

Despite all the eavesdropping, Leaf hadn't yet heard of any other Time Gears going missing. It worried him, as it possibly indicated that Claire had gotten herself into trouble… Perhaps she was just playing it as safely as he was, though.

Finally, he forced himself to go after another Time Gear. As much as Leaf needed to gather information, he'd been fooling around enough.

He went through the list in his head, trying to decide which one would be the safest. Most of the others that he knew about had guardians, which could cause quite a bit more of a stir if he were to go after them; he _would_ have to get them all eventually, of course, but he wanted to be as careful as possible in the early stages. The two "safest" ones would likely be Dark Crater and Limestone Cavern.

It was after a long internal debate that Leaf settled on Limestone Cavern. From what little information he had on Dark Crater, he knew he'd be at a severe Type disadvantage against most of its residents, so he couldn't afford to go alone despite the fact that there was no guardian there. At the very least, Limestone Cavern was just as far away from Treasure Town as Dark Crater was, so news would take a while to spread.

Besides, he had to admit he was applying "What would _Claire_ do?" to quite a bit of his thought processes. Despite the lack of her presence, Leaf drew a bit of comfort from the fact that his partner would have likely agreed to the choice that put him at the fewest disadvantages.

It was a long journey, but the scenery made the trip quite enjoyable. Leaf still marveled at the fact that everything wasn't the same dark blue-grey like it was in the future. Even if it wasn't for the fact that everything was simply more easily-distinguishable, the variety of landscapes drove him to complete his mission even more.

He was quite relieved when he finally reached the entrance of Limestone Cavern. Although the trip had been easy for the most part, there had been a few other dungeons along the way, and the skirmishes he'd encountered within them had slowed him down. Leaf took one of his few remaining Oran Berries out of his secondhand treasure bag and ate it, feeling his energy return as he prepared to enter the cave.

Before he could go inside, however, Leaf had the acute feeling that he was being watched. He tensed as he turned around, and there was a Pikachu standing nearby with a rather nervous look on his face. Did Pikachu live in the area? They were forest-dwellers, and Leaf _had_ passed through a forest on the way, but he didn't recall seeing any Pikachu while he'd been there…

"May I help you with something?" Leaf asked coolly.

Pikachu fidgeted as he replied. "It's quite dangerous in there, you know…"

"Is that all? I assure you I can handle myself."

The Electric-Type was silent for a moment, and Leaf watched him curiously. His warning was quite strange; mystery dungeons were well-known for being dangerous, even here in the more peaceful past world. Another thought occurred to him, however, before Pikachu could continue.

"Unless there's something else you mean to warn me about," Leaf continued, frowning. "Has anything unusual happened here lately?"

"Well… There were two exploration teams who fought each other over a treasure here, but that was quite some time ago… It wasn't really recent, actually…" Pikachu's eyes hardened suddenly, and the shift in attitude was a bit jarring. "You're not out for the treasure, too, are you?"

Leaf wondered if Pikachu was referring to the Time Gear; if so, the implication was that it was still there. That, in turn, implied that Claire hadn't been there yet, which caused him to get a bit uneasy. He shoved that idea out of his mind, hoping that she'd just chosen a few other ones instead, as he tried to fish up a decent reply. Yes, he was looking for the Time Gear, but he couldn't exactly announce that…

"I'm not searching for anything out of greed, if that's what you mean. I really must get going, though…"

"Wait!"

Leaf proceeded to ignore Pikachu's calls as he ducked into Limestone Cavern's narrow entrance. Yes, Pikachu was probably just concerned, but there was no time to waste arguing with him. He couldn't legitimately explain himself, so Leaf couldn't afford to sit around coming up with fake excuses.

Fortunately, there were many Water-Types living in the area. They rarely engaged him, but Leaf had the upper hand when he did get attacked. There was one close call he had with a Seviper fairly far into the dungeon, but otherwise he managed to reach the branched area of the cave relatively unharmed.

Leaf knew not to bother with either the right or left tunnels. While Limestone Cavern hadn't been an area that Claire herself had gotten a Dimensional Scream about, Michelle had been more than detailed enough in explaining the more confusing aspects of the locations that she had found. All he had to do was step through the fake wall in the back of the chamber…

Nevertheless, Leaf couldn't help shuddering as he took the correct route. Knowing about it beforehand didn't fully prepare him for the dizziness he felt as he passed through the illusion.

The local Pokémon got significantly tougher as he went further into the depths of Limestone Cavern. While he still got into scuffles fairly rarely, Leaf had some difficulty by virtue of the fact that there were fewer and fewer Water-Types the further he went; all the Kingler and Marill he'd seen earlier were replaced by large groups of Dragonair and Masquerain. To make matters worse, he kept hearing a rather distinct scuttling sound. Though he couldn't immediately place where he'd heard it before, Leaf couldn't help looking over his shoulder constantly to make sure he wasn't being followed.

When Leaf reached what appeared to be the final chamber, it was nearly empty save for the rather large treasure chest near the back of the room. This too was something he'd expected; he knew from Michelle's description that the Time Gear was actually in a room beyond this one, and that there should have been a guardian present…

"Ditto," he called. "Come on out. I know you're hiding somewhere…"

Leaf was cut off abruptly by something tackling him from behind. He was thrown face-first into the ground, and he gasped for air; the wind had been knocked out of him from the surprise. A pair of claws was draped over his shoulders, and Leaf groaned internally as he heard a familiar voice.

"Grovyle! I can't believe you — I thought you were nice, but you want the treasure here! You thief!"

Having recovered from the shock, Leaf felt his quick reflexes returning. He sprung back to his feet, easily knocking his light assailant off his back. When he spun around, he saw the Skorupi who had given him the Wonder Map; her claws were raised defensively, and she had an expression on her face that looked like a combination of disappointment and anger.

Skorupi was surprisingly fast. Before Leaf could say anything, the scorpion Pokémon lunged towards him with her stinger raised. He managed to dodge in time, however, causing Skorupi to stumble around for a few seconds. Leaf took the chance to tackle her, trying to avoid being too rough as he made sure he'd pinned her tail down.

"Listen, Skorupi! What in the world gave you that idea? What are you even doing here?"

"My brother said he found something in here a long time ago that he thought I'd like to see," she explained. Her eyes were softening somewhat, but her voice remained harsh. "I saw a Pikachu on the way in who told me he saw a Grovyle heading in here… He said you were after the treasure and asked me to stop you!"

"That's a bunch of lies!" Leaf replied disdainfully. "Don't tell me you believed him… This is one of the places I thought I might find my partner."

It was an incomplete explanation, but it wasn't untrue… Leaf stepped back, allowing Skorupi to get up, but he remained on guard. An apprehensive look lingered on Skorupi's face as she considered Leaf's words.

"You… you haven't found your friend yet?"

Leaf merely shook his head in response, and Skorupi gave him a cautious look before she continued speaking.

"And you're not here to steal anything?"

He laughed hollowly. "Of course not!"

Skorupi nodded. "All right… How about I stay here with you for a little while, then? I think that thing my brother mentioned is a bit farther, but I don't want to go by myself… It was pretty hard getting here…"

Leaf's stomach twisted. The small Pokémon genuinely seemed to consider him a friend. Under any other circumstance, he might have been flattered, having been unaccustomed to concepts like freely trusting other Pokémon. However, Leaf _really_ couldn't let her come with him…

"Skorupi…" he said, kneeling down and putting a claw on her head. "Go back, okay?"

"What? Why?" she demanded.

"I don't want you to get hurt."

That was the truth, and it made him feel better to say so. Leaf reached into his bag, searching for an Oran Berry — he winced when he realized he only had two left. Nonetheless, he handed one of the berries to Skorupi; he'd noticed she was quite scraped up. Her face tinged as she caught the implication, and she ate the Oran Berry reluctantly.

"F-fine," she muttered. "Don't think I'm embarrassed or anything! I just want to get out of here safely…"

With that, Skorupi abruptly spun around and scuttled out of the chamber, refusing to look back at him. Leaf sighed as he watched her leave, and when he was satisfied that she was gone, he turned back towards the treasure chest. It had to be a trap of some kind, considering how empty the rest of the chamber was…

Squinting, Leaf thought he could make out a small tunnel in the distance. It was conveniently almost blocked off by the view of the chest, obviously making its placement deliberate. Clearing his throat as he stepped forward, Leaf called out to the empty room again.

"Ditto!" he repeated. "Stop hiding and face me already."

The treasure chest suddenly had an odd lighting about it. Then, it took on a pink tint and started to shrink. Eventually, Ditto was sitting in its place; it was hard to make out his expression, thanks to his minimal features, but he seemed to be glaring.

"It's pointless to conceal myself from you, I see…"

"You were that Pikachu, weren't you." Leaf spoke flatly, in more of a statement than a question. "Tell me, why did you find that little deception necessary?"

"Uh… To guard the treasure, of course…"

"Don't play with me. I already know what you're guarding, and I'm afraid that I need to take it from you."

"Don't you know what will happen if you take a Time Gear?" Ditto's quiet voice was rising in volume, creating another jarring change. "Do you really think I'll just let you take it?"

Leaf's eyes narrowed; a Time Gear guardian ought to know the other function the devices served. Ditto was clearly too angry to listen to him, however. Not to mention that by the time he would have proof, it would be much too late… He'd been expecting resistance when he'd accepted his quest, though he'd been getting used to friendlier Pokémon like Skorupi.

He braced himself as Ditto started transforming again. Having resigned himself to facing something he was weak against — something powerful at that, like a Typhlosion or a Crobat — Leaf was quite surprised to see Ditto becoming an Alakazam instead.

"What are you planning, Ditto? I don't want to have to fight you, so I'm sorry that you insist on making this difficult!"

"How can I convince you to stop this…? Do you have any weaknesses…?"

Ditto's voice had taken on a hint of its old calmness; he was obviously ignoring Leaf's question. Before he could wonder what was going on, Leaf's limbs suddenly locked up, and he was dragged forward against his will. Ditto's eyes were glowing as he pressed one of the typical Alakazam's spoons to Leaf's forehead.

Leaf hissed as a searing pain shot through his head; it was as if Ditto had started repeatedly lunging the spoon directly into his brain to pull out his thoughts. He struggled to reach up and pull the spoon away, but Ditto's eyes glowed more intensely as he forced Leaf's arm to snap back to his side. After what felt like an eternity, Ditto flung Leaf backwards, and he fell to the ground roughly. Gasping, Leaf struggled to get back to his feet, wondering what exactly Ditto had done to him.

He almost stopped breathing when his eyes caught sight of a familiar pair of black shoes. Leaf's sight trailed upward over the tan-and-black outfit, finally settling on his partner's face. Claire was smiling gently, the expression causing her large brown eyes to light up.

"C-Claire!"

Leaf's voice faltered in disbelief. So Claire _had_ gotten there after all — had she been waiting for him? Something tugged in the back of his brain — he was being too hasty and naive — but he pushed that out of his mind as he scrambled towards the human. He stopped dead in his tracks when Claire started speaking, however.

"You wouldn't attack her, would you? This girl was a prominent part of your thoughts… You guarded any reasons you may have for wanting the Time Gear quite well, but I was able to see her clearly…"

Ditto's voice was coming out of Claire's mouth, and Leaf felt sickened at the sound. He was disgusted with himself, to fall for such a simple trick. His anger at himself was quickly replaced with a growing rage towards Ditto. The edges of Leaf's vision turned white, and he charged toward Ditto before he fully realized what he was doing.

"_How dare you_ use Claire in this way!"

Leaf was unfamiliar with his own voice as he screamed. He blindly slashed forward, unaware of how many of his strikes were actually connecting. All he knew was that Ditto stopped fighting back quickly; he was either unable to, or he hadn't gotten quite as much information on Claire as he claimed, as he wasn't even attempting to use Claire's weakened Thunderbolts. It was far more likely that Ditto simply didn't have enough opportunities to try to attack, though.

A loud thump was the only thing that managed to snap Leaf out of his attack. Ditto had fallen to the ground, still in Claire's form. "Her" body was covered in long, deep cuts, with blood staining large amounts of clothing, and "her" face was set in a wide-eyed, horrified look. Ditto was twitching violently as he panted heavily, and he was apparently attempting to revert to his normal form with little success. Parts of Claire's body were turning into Ditto's bright pink, rubbery skin, mainly both the hands, one of the arms, and about half the face, though even those areas remained vaguely humanoid.

Leaf pressed a claw to his mouth, willing himself not to vomit at the sight. It still didn't fully register how much of a fury he'd just been in; he'd _never_ felt that angry before… He also had trouble processing that he'd managed to hurt someone that badly. His claws and leaves, as well as a good portion of his arms, were covered in blood, and he could barely bring himself to move in his shock and guilt. The fact that Ditto still looked partially like Claire certainly didn't help matters, as Leaf couldn't shake the irrational thought that it was Claire herself that he'd attacked so brutally.

Closing his eyes, Leaf forced himself to weakly walk around Ditto and enter Limestone Cavern's last tunnel. At the end, the path opened up into a chamber with a pathway arching over a large lake. A Time Gear sat in the middle of the island at the end of the path, and Leaf's breath quickened as he approached it. Before reaching out to touch the Time Gear, however, Leaf instinctively plunged his claws into the nearby water to rinse off the blood.

When he slowly took the Time Gear off its pedestal, a loud rumble shook the cave. It was a similar sensation to the one Leaf had felt at Treeshroud Forest. He fled the room the instant he'd secured the Time Gear in his bag, knowing that if he remained for too long, he'd get frozen forever; Limestone Cavern would be safe for anyone to enter later, but staying behind now while time was stopping would be suicidal at best.

He reached Ditto's chamber, and he hesitated for a moment. The guardian had managed to fully transform back into himself, but his wounds remained with him. Leaf felt horrible enough about what he'd done; he couldn't just let Ditto get frozen in that state… Without a second thought, Leaf pulled his last Oran Berry out of his bag, throwing it at Ditto as he tore across the room.

"Eat that, and hurry! I apologize for what I've done, but I had to do it!"

As Leaf proceeded to flee the dungeon, the situation played out quite similarly to his escape from Treeshroud Forest. The cavern's inhabitants automatically picked up on the fact that something was happening, and they all swarmed out around him. Panicked chatter arose as they looked behind them, seeing the spreading darkness. By the time they reached the exit, the group was so tightly packed that it was nearly impossible to move.

Leaf managed to force himself away from the area, breathing heavily. After he'd gone a decent distance, he sank to his knees as he reached into his bag and ran a claw over the Time Gear he'd just gotten. Images from that battle would remain in his mind for a long time; he genuinely regretted his actions, but he'd been too blinded at the time to even realize what he'd been doing.

For a moment, Leaf wished he could put off going after another Time Gear, although it was foolish to think he had that luxury.

He yanked his claw out of his bag and made sure it was securely closed when he heard someone calling out to him.

"Hey, Grovyle! What happened in there? Why are you still by yourself?"

Skorupi had trailed after him, though it had evidently taken her a good deal of time to push her way through the crowd of local Pokémon. Curiosity and fear were plastered on her face as she looked at him. While he was glad she'd gotten out of the cavern safely, having to converse with someone was the last thing he wanted right now…

"I, ah…"

"We'd like to know that, as well."

Leaf's eyes widened and his heart started pounding rapidly as he spun around to face two other familiar Pokémon. The Sceptile and Lucario he'd met in Treeshroud Forest were standing a few feet away from him. Sceptile had a concerned look on her face, and she was cradling a trembling Budew in her arms; they'd likely just finished a rescue mission. Lucario, on the other hand, was glaring at him.

_Why_ did they always have to have missions in places where there were Time Gears?

"Oh! Hi, Kerry, Maryn," Skorupi greeted, grinning. "I just met Grovyle in there a little while ago. He said he was looking for someone."

Leaf felt a wave of relief wash over him as Skorupi spoke. Her earlier hostility had all but vanished, and she clearly didn't suspect a thing. Sceptile seemed like she was actually considering Skorupi's words, but Lucario didn't look convinced in the slightest.

"Well, it's very nice of him to be here with you. I'm glad you've been doing better since that time that we rescued you," Sceptile replied, but a worried frown creased her face as she turned to Leaf. "You haven't found your friend yet?"

Leaf shook his head rapidly; he didn't trust himself to speak at the moment.

"Are you sure that's all you've been doing? Just looking for someone?"

Lucario's voice had an inherent challenging tone to it, as if he was daring Leaf to answer with anything else. Leaf knew the Fighting-Type would be unlikely to accept whatever he said. It was obvious Lucario wasn't nearly as trusting as his partner was, and with good reason; his ability to read aura likely made it obvious to him how tense Leaf was. Skorupi was now looking between Leaf and Team Aura Blade with an extremely confused look on her face.

"What's going on here?" she asked worriedly.

"N-nothing," Leaf insisted. "I just… I really need to keep looking for, uh…"

"Looking for what, exactly? Don't try to deny how strange it is that you were around both times something serious occurred. We learned that time stopped in Treeshroud Forest. Is that what happened here, too?"

Lucario got more and more accusatory as he spoke, and he stepped towards Leaf threateningly. As Leaf took an unconscious step backwards, Sceptile put a claw on Lucario's shoulder, still delicately balancing Budew in her other arm.

"Maryn, come now, stop jumping to conclusions! Really, by that logic, we're pretty suspicious ourselves. Let's just get back to the guild and let Shinx know that we found Budew."

"Kerry, we can't just deny that we've got a possible suspect here!"

"Stop it, guys! Grovyle's not a bad Pokémon!"

As Skorupi cut into the argument, Team Aura Blade turned their attention to her, ignoring Leaf for a moment. Leaf took several nervous steps backwards, and then scrambled away as quickly as possible while he had the chance.

He'd have to be much more careful from there on out.

* * *

_Author's Note x2_: For the record, I do know that there's not a Time Gear shown in Dark Crater. However, the partner mentions that there's supposedly a Time Gear in a volcano, and since it's implied at several points that there are more than five of them, I've always thought that there _should_ be one there.

Also, given how an alarmingly large portion of the PMD fandom insists that Grovyle intended to kill Azelf, the hero, and the partner (I won't deny he ended up hurting you pretty badly, but when you compare some minor details, it casts a bit of doubt on him outright _wanting_ to kill you), I think his fight with Ditto is all right… And this is already rated T / PG-13 anyway, so I don't think it really needs toning down.


	7. The Expedition

_Author's Note_: Back to Claire's point of view, and once again I'm skipping ahead a little bit here. The expedition is one of my favorite parts of the game, and I really wanted to expand on Claire's reaction to the Time Gear… Oh, and remember Claire's Dimensional Scream from way back in Chapter Two? That gets fleshed out in this chapter, too. Heliona is also super fun here, and she manages to slip in a quote that fans of Disney's Princess and the Frog should recognize…

**Chapter Seven: The Expedition**

"All right, everyone…" Chatot sighed as his gaze swept across the room full of recruits. "Since we're _all_ going on the expedition, we'll have to break up into small groups."

He proceeded to grumble under his breath, something that everyone in the room ignored. They all started chattering excitedly, only stopping when Chatot squawked loudly.

"As I was saying!" he snapped. "Pay attention, now! Diglett, Dugtrio, Croagunk, and Corphish are the first group; next, Sunflora, Loudred, and Chimecho; Team Lightning will take Bidoof; Team Shadow and Team Skull will go on their own. Oh, and the Guildmaster will come with me, I suppose…"

"Chatot! I wanted to go with Team Shadow, our newest friends!" Wigglytuff begged.

The parrot Pokémon sighed, pressing a wing to his face for a moment in an annoyed gesture. "Guildmaster, Team Shadow already has four members. They can't take anyone else along. Now, everyone knows the destination of the base camp, yes? Set out as soon as you're all stocked up, and we'll fill you in further once everyone arrives!"

"_Yes, sir_!"

The recruits scattered, chattering again as they formed their assigned groups. Team Skull sent a brief smug look in Team Shadow's direction before hastily exiting the room; they were ignored, however, as Team Lightning approached the other rookies moments later.

"Hey, Claire!" Heliona grinned. "Wanna make a bet?"

"Sure!" Claire grinned back. "It'll make the trip more fun. What'll it be?"

"Three hundred Poké on who gets there first. Take it or leave it?"

"Really, Heliona? _Really_?"

Sydney was giving his leader an incredibly aggravated expression. Heliona seemed to be ignoring the Absol, as she was still giving Claire a hopeful look.

"We'll take it," Claire replied. "Now, see you there!"

* * *

"I haven't seen Team Lightning at all yet. Have you?"

"Nope… or any other of the guild members, for that matter."

Iris absently gave a back-handed Ice Punch to a Dratini who had crept up behind her as she answered Claire's question. As the Dragon-Type slumped to the dungeon's floor, Team Shadow proceeded through Craggy Coast's exit.

Claire pulled her Wonder Map out of her bag as Felix, Iris, and Rin sat down for a short rest. They'd been making surprisingly fast progress; they'd made it roughly halfway to the base camp in just about half the amount of time they'd allotted themselves for the trip. Still, knowing Chatot, they couldn't afford to dawdle, either.

"Where to next, Claire?" Rin asked quietly.

"Well, it looks like we've only got one more mystery dungeon on the path we planned out… I guess we have the time to take a bit of a break, but—"

"But what?" Iris rolled her eyes as she sank down onto her stomach. "I mean, we haven't seen anybody yet. I bet we're ahead of everyone."

Claire considered the idea as she folded her map and stuck it back in her bag. After a moment, she nodded and pulled out a few apples. She then tossed an apple to each of her teammates, the wide arcs catching Rin and Felix off guard. Iris managed to catch her apple with her mouth, and the Machop got an exasperated look from Rin as she immediately chomped into the fruit.

"That's true! We better hurry after we eat, though."

Sitting down next to Felix, Claire took a bite of her own apple as well, smiling as the Chimchar scooted a bit closer to her.

* * *

"I hate this dungeon," Iris announced.

The rest of the team groaned in agreement. Mt. Horn was only slightly larger than Craggy Coast was; however, they'd gotten lost several times, due to the fact that they'd run into quite a few long, branching tunnels. They were also getting quite low on items, despite having stocked up before the expedition as per Chatot's orders.

Not to mention Iris herself had good reason to gripe; they'd run into quite a few Bug- and Flying-Types, putting her at a large disadvantage. She'd managed to compensate a bit by countering all the Beautifly and Natu with Ice Punch, but it seemed like most of their opponents were targeting her specifically. Rin was faring little better; while the Cubone had kept most of her complaints to herself, the few Pokémon not attacking Iris had focused on her.

Claire quickly checked the Wonder Map again. "I don't think we have too much farther—"

She was cut off by a rather loud screech. An Aerodactyl had swooped down from the ceiling rather abruptly; from her panicked expression, it seemed that she hadn't noticed Team Shadow at first, but they were now in her way and she didn't have the space to move. Claire hastily blasted Aerodactyl with a Water Pulse, causing her to crumple against the wall.

"Whew…" Claire sighed. "Anyway…"

"I-Is that the exit up there?"

Felix had had a terrified expression plastered on his face when the Aerodactyl had approached them, but he was now focused on something ahead of them. While there was a bit of distance left, there did seem to be an opening in the cave's wall up ahead. Claire squinted, and then nodded excitedly.

"Come on!"

She darted ahead of her three teammates, and Rin and Felix struggled to keep up. Contrarily, Iris was actually a few feet ahead of her, no doubt even more eager to leave than Claire was. When the four of them arrived on the path outside, Felix gave an impressed gasp at the sight ahead of them.

"Look! There's the camp!"

A steep path wound down the hill in front of them, leading to a collection of Wigglytuff-shaped tents. They slowly walked down the trail, with Felix nervously gripping onto Claire's arm the whole way. As they descended, some fog became visible, though fortunately it wasn't too thick.

When they finally reached the bottom, Team Shadow released a collective sigh of relief. Iris then darted ahead of them again, announcing their arrival.

"We're here!" the Machop sang.

"You're just barely on time!"

An irate squawk pierced the air, and Chatot was visible a moment later. He gave Team Shadow a brief glare, but then he sighed and turned around. Before Claire could ask him what the problem was, he faced them again with a more resigned expression.

"Well, _almost_ everyone else is here… At least you arrived before Team Lightning. Take a few moments to rest up while we wait for them."

As Chatot fluttered away from them, Team Shadow settled down in front of the nearest tent. Claire stretched as she looked over at her teammates.

"I guess now we know why we didn't run into anyone, huh?"

"And we won the bet with Heliona," Iris added smugly. "We'll probably have to get them to pay up later, given Chatot's current mood… I wonder what's taking them so long, though—"

"Sorry we're late, guys!"

Iris was cut off by none other than Heliona herself. The Vulpix looked incredibly out of breath, as did Sydney and Leon. Poor Bidoof was trailing along several feet behind them, looking just as worn out as they did. They all had dirt and leaves matted into their fur, and as they'd arrived from a different direction than Team Shadow had, Claire assumed they hadn't gone through Mt. Horn… though that begged the question of what route they'd taken instead.

"Finally! Now that we've all arrived, come over here, everyone!"

Chatot gave a sweeping motion with his wing after shooting another impressive glare towards the newest arrivals. He and Wigglytuff were standing in front of a trail leading through a sudden cluster of trees, and the guild's recruits eagerly gathered up near them; Team Skull's members, on the other hand, were standing back slightly with disdainful looks on their faces. Once everyone had assembled, Chatot cleared his throat and went on.

"As I'm sure you've all noticed… a fog has started to gather. The reports I've gathered on the area indicate that the forest ahead of us is perpetually covered in a much thicker fog."

"Hey, hey! How are we supposed to do any exploring, then?" Corphish interjected.

"I was just getting to that," Chatot sighed. "I've also heard rumors that there's a way to temporarily clear the fog. Therefore, if any of you happens to find out how to do that before you find the path to the actual lake, please report back to the Guildmaster and myself."

"Oh my gosh! This is getting so exciting!" Sunflora exclaimed. "There's so much for us to be looking for!"

"Indeed there is." Chatot nodded. "Now get going, everyone!"

"_Yes, sir_!"

The recruits promptly headed down the forest trail, chattering excitedly. Felix hung back, however, looking apprehensive. He followed along behind the rest of the group, though at a bit of a distance.

"How do you think we'll find our way through that?" he murmured.

"I elect that you go ahead of us!" Iris grinned. "Just keep your tail lit, and we'll be able to see just fine!"

"What?" Felix's eyes widened. "You want _me_ to lead us?"

"I'll stay right next to you," Claire volunteered. "Let's go!"

Felix latched onto Claire's arm as his tail flames flared up. As Team Shadow started to walk down the trail, Felix paused again for a minute, his eyes drifting down to the side of the path. Claire stopped abruptly when she noticed him looking down, causing Rin and Iris to almost crash into her.

While he didn't say anything right away, it was easy to see what had caught his attention. There was a small, strange red patch of light contrasting sharply with the thick grass, and Felix looked up at Claire when he realized she'd seen it too.

"C-can I go see what that is?"

"What _what_ is?" Rin queried, squinting.

Claire nodded, and Felix darted over towards the light. He bent down, carefully pushing apart the grass, and pulled out a surprisingly large red gemstone. It was oddly cut, almost like a heart-shape but with one of the sides larger than the other, and small spikes covered the bottom.

"It's… really warm," Felix stated after a moment.

"That's all you're going to say about it?"

Iris had scampered up behind Felix, startling him when he realized how close she was standing to him. Leaning her head over his shoulder for a closer look, Iris attempted to grab the stone from him. Felix nervously shoved it into his treasure bag, however, and scrambled back over towards Claire.

"W-we can ask one of the other guild members about it later," he mumbled.

"Yeah, I bet we could ask Chatot about it later if we go back to the base camp." Claire grinned as they started walking again. "He's the head of intelligence and all… Maybe he's seen something like it before."

Rin nodded, but Iris merely grumbled under her breath at the idea of having to talk to Chatot any more than they absolutely had to. While she and Rin had adjusted to guild life pretty quickly, Iris and Chatot had never gotten along well.

The quartet lapsed into silence as they wound through the forest. As Chatot had warned, the fog did get thicker and thicker the further they went; it was hard enough to see where they were going without conversations distracting them. Felix's tail flame did serve as a decent guiding light for their immediate surroundings, but its range was still limited. Every time something rustled in the bushes, even Iris jumped nervously.

At one point, fairly far into the forest, a Pachirisu stumbled onto the path in front of them, looking confused. He instinctively lit up with a Spark attack, but he backed up sheepishly when Felix yelped in surprise.

"Oh… S-sorry," Pachirisu grumbled. "Can't ever see a thing out here…"

He immediately darted away, and Claire released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. It took a few seconds before they began walking again, now watching the trail with more care.

The dense trees finally started to spread out, indicating that they were getting close to the end of the woods. It was a bit hard for Claire to feel relieved, however; as they got closer to the end, there was an odd nagging feeling in the back of her mind. It had been very vague when they had entered, but now it was getting much stronger… The place was starting to feel very, very familiar to her, though of course she had no idea why.

When they finally stepped out into the clearing, the four of them gasped collectively. Though it was still very foggy, they could make out small waterfalls coming down from, as far as they could tell, the sky right above them.

"I wonder what this would look like if we could actually see it better," Iris grumbled.

"Hey, hey!"

A reddish shape became visible through the fog as the familiar voice rang out. Seconds later, Corphish was standing in front of them, out of breath.

"Oh, hi." Claire grinned. "When did you get here, Corphish?"

"Just a little while ago," he answered hurriedly. "There's something kind of interesting up ahead. Want to come and see?"

After a brief pause, Team Shadow collectively nodded, and the four of them trailed after Corphish. After a few minutes, they'd arrived at a statue depicting a large, armored Pokémon with huge claws. It had fallen off its pedestal, though it didn't appear to be very damaged.

Claire cocked her head to the side, resting her chin in her paw. The feeling of familiarity was getting even stronger now… As she got a bit closer to the statue, she realized Corphish had started talking again.

"Hey… I've never seen any Pokémon like that before! It looks really important, though, doesn't it?"

Rin nodded. "I know what you mean… Do you think that kind of Pokémon lives around here?"

"Come on, Rin!" Iris cut in dramatically. "That statue is pretty big… If there was an actual Pokémon like that around here, don't you think we would have noticed it?"

"It was just an idea," the Cubone muttered.

As Rin finished, more voices were audible behind them. The group looked around carefully, spotting more figures barely visible in the distance. They were soon joined by Team Lightning, who somehow managed to look even worse for the wear than they had before. Sydney was attempting to scratch more leaves and twigs out of his white fur, and Leon was wheezing as Heliona tossed him an Oran Berry. The Vulpix was covered in scratches herself, but she didn't seem to care.

"Oh, hey, guys!" Heliona said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Hey, hey! What's up with _you guys_, Vulpix?" Corphish demanded.

"We got lost back there, what did you think?" Sydney muttered. "_Someone_ here also managed to attract the attention of half the forest's residents… How we got out of that last fight is beyond me…"

"I guess that explains why _we_ ran into hardly anyone…" Iris pondered. "They were all over you guys! Not that I blame them; I'd be all over you guys in a heartbeat, if you know what I mean—"

Rin swiftly cut Iris off with a jab of her bone, and the Machop glared at her. Team Lightning ignored her, however, having noticed the nearby statue. Leon's eyes widened curiously as he took a few steps closer to it.

"What kind of Pokémon is this?" the Shinx asked, turning to Corphish.

"That's what we were just trying to figure out!"

Meanwhile, Iris was trying to converse with the other two members of Team Lightning. Rin was watching Iris carefully, while Claire and Felix tried to listen to both sets of conversations.

"So, Heliona! About that bet we made earlier…"

Heliona groaned as she dug through her treasure bag for some coins. "Yes, yes, here you go."

"At least we picked up a decent amount of money while we were wandering around…" Sydney grumbled.

"What happened, anyway?"

"Oh, I… I just got confused by the geography! And the topography… And the, uh, choreography…"

"Do you even know what 'choreography' means?" Sydney deadpanned.

"Nope!"

Rolling his eyes, Sydney turned back to Iris and added, "There's an unofficial rule of the guild: never take directions from a Vulpix."

"Guys! We just noticed something awesome!" Leon shouted.

"What is it?" Claire asked eagerly.

"Hey, hey! I saw some kind of inscription on the statue's base earlier," Corphish explained.

"Well, what did it say?" Sydney prompted.

"Something about the 'heart of Groudon,' whatever that means," Leon continued.

Rin looked back over at the statue, and her eyes lit up. "There's a hole up there in the statue's chest."

Iris easily caught Rin's suggestion. "The 'heart of Groudon' must be whatever goes in there… So what could it be?"

As the rest of the Pokémon began babbling excitedly, Claire idly walked up to the Groudon statue. She felt more and more like she'd seen it before… Frowning, she curiously put her paws down on the base as she leaned down for a closer inspection.

A sudden, sharp feeling coursed through her head, and Claire mewed in surprise. She was starting to get used to it, as she'd gotten visions several times now, but it was always a bit unexpected, as she had no way to predict when she'd get one… Unlike some of her other visions, this time Claire could only hear voices.

"_Well, what did you see?"_

"_There's an item called the Drought Stone that we have to find, and it goes inside the statue. That lifts the fog in the area and will let us explore there."_

"_And that clears up the path that we need to take when we get there?"_

"_It should!"_

As her vision re-focused, Claire folded her arms and felt her whiskers twitch. Apart from the fact that she hadn't actually seen anything that time, the voices sounded really familiar… To make things even weirder, the feminine-sounding voice had sounded fainter and had echoed oddly, making it even harder to guess where she'd heard it before…

She didn't have time to think too much, however; everyone was still trying to figure out what the inscription on the statue had meant. Claire realized Felix had been staring at her; he probably realized that she'd just gotten a vision. She promptly remembered the stone he'd picked up earlier, and before she could remember that _he_ didn't know what it was called, she instinctively repeated what she'd just heard.

"Try putting the Drought Stone in there!"

She gestured excitedly towards the small hole in the statue's chest area. For a moment, Felix simply gave her a confused look. He put two and two together a few seconds later, though, and started digging through his treasure bag. At this point, everyone else realized what was going on, and they were all wearing equally curious looks on their faces.

"Is that the stone I found earlier?"

Felix mumbled nervously as he obediently pulled out the gemstone and walked towards the statue. Gulping, he inserted it into the gap, and it fit in perfectly.

There was a loud rumbling sound, and everyone instinctively ducked and covered their heads. However, apart from the shaking, nothing seemed to have happened. Upon looking back up, however, they realized there was something decidedly different about the area…

"What just happened?" Leon's eyes were practically bugging out of his head. "The fog's gone!"

It was stating the obvious, but everyone was too stunned to care. Normal sunlight looked completely blinding compared to the fog they had gotten used to seeing. Furthermore, there was something important that had become obvious now that they could see: the source of the waterfalls.

A towering landmass was now easily visible, and while it was in the distance, a small cave entrance was visible in the base of it. The waterfalls were flowing down from the top; it was clear that the lake Chatot had told them about in earlier briefings was up there.

"Hey, hey! Team Lightning, let's go back to the camp and tell everyone!" Corphish exclaimed. "Team Shadow, you go on ahead!"

"What? Why do we have to go back?" Heliona demanded.

"Well, it was Meowth's idea to put that stone in there! They should get to go in there first. Now, come on!"

Corphish scuttled away, and Team Lightning reluctantly followed after him. After a few moments, the impact of the situation finally sank in among Team Shadow. Iris instinctively grabbed Rin, danced around in a circle (much to Rin's protesting), and then flung her arms into the air.

"Psychic team leader for the win! That's how you figured it out, right?"

"Yeah… Well, I'm not really sure if you could call it 'psychic,' but…" Claire trailed off, but she was grinning. "Anyway, let's go!"

Felix, Rin, and Iris nodded as they followed Claire, with Felix looking a bit more nervous than Rin or Iris. The temperature rose considerably as they approached the landmark, though Claire doubted that was the problem; the Chimchar probably wouldn't have as many problems with the heat as the rest of the team would. Still, she paused to give him a quick pat on the shoulder when they reached the cave entrance, and he smiled tentatively at her.

The cave's mouth was surprisingly narrow, and they had to form a single-file line. They'd entered into a tunnel, rather than a cavernous room, and the ground sloped upwards ahead them. Claire quickly examined her Wonder Map, and then turned around to address the team.

"Well, for a little while, it looks like it just winds around a bit… It'll be easy, so let's hurry to the top!"

As the tunnel twisted around, it became slightly wider, allowing them to go two-by-two instead of single file. Felix took his usual place by Claire, clinging to her shoulder as he looked around. Claire's ears twitched instinctively as they continued, picking up surprisingly few signs of the area's residents. There was an odd feeling in the air, though, as if something could jump out at any moment; it was no wonder that Felix was as nervous as always.

The sense that Claire had been there before was getting stronger as well, though she tried to shove that out of her mind. She had to concentrate right now.

Small caverns eventually began branching off to their sides, and Rin had taken to pulling out Claire's Wonder Map to check directions for her. Iris, on the other hand, kept shifting impatiently, no doubt bothered by the lack of action. They passed by several small groups of Pokémon, mainly Numel and Magby, and while they received plenty of cautious glares, none of the other Pokémon made any attempt at attacking them.

When they got fairly far into the dungeon, however, a rather large Magmar crossed their path. Startled, he instinctively breathed out a Flamethrower at them, and they collectively ducked. Claire then shot a Thunderbolt at the Fire-Type, followed by Rin finishing him off with a well-timed Bone Club. They sighed in relief as they walked around Magmar's prone form, though Claire stayed on edge.

'_Odd,'_ she thought. _'That just felt even more familiar…'_

Shaking her head, Claire tried to feel more excited. They'd gone quite a distance, so they had to be getting close to the end… Her idea was confirmed when Rin checked the map again, only for Iris to snatch it away.

"The exit is right around the next corner," Iris announced.

Finally, Claire felt relieved, her usual cheerful expression returning to her face as she sped up. Felix stumbled as he attempted to keep up with her, with Iris racing along beside her and Rin keeping a safe distance. When they dove through the exit, the outside air was a relief compared to the humid air that had permeated the dungeon; however, there was something a bit odd about the area…

"Um… Where's the lake?" Felix asked uncertainly.

The plateau they arrived on was completely empty. Several large rock formations rose up in front of them; although there was a small gap in the distance, likely leading to another area, the land in front of them was bone-dry and craggy. It was admittedly a bit bizarre to think that there could be a lake anywhere nearby.

"Chatot drug us out here to find this 'Fogbound Lake' place, and what do we get instead?" Iris said rather dramatically.

"Calm down, Iris. It's probably just up there…" Rin sighed quietly, gesturing towards the path ahead of them.

Claire nodded and started walking again. There was a sudden rumbling, however, and she stopped mid-step; it died down quickly enough, but it had been quite noticeable. Looking over her shoulder at her teammates, she saw they all had equally confused looks on their faces. Then, there was another, somewhat stronger quake, this one taking a bit longer to fade away.

"Um… Rin?" Iris raised an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me. I'm not that good at using Earthquake yet."

"Well, who else could it be?"

A loud roar tore through the area, and its source became obvious quickly enough. A giant, red, armored creature had just lumbered through the mountain-like formations ahead of them, the sunlight glinting off his huge claws. He easily towered over the four members of Team Shadow, and his yellow eyes narrowed as he looked down at them.

It occurred dimly to Claire that he looked exactly like the statue they'd seen, but it hardly seemed like an appropriate time to mention that fact.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, his voice booming.

"Isn't it obvious? We want to visit Fogbound Lake!" Iris answered with a grin.

"Iris!"

Rin had attempted to slap a hand over Iris's mouth, but it was too late. The Pokémon roared again and slashed his claw forward, and Iris ducked out of the way just in time. A crack was left in the ground when he pulled his claw back up.

"I am Groudon, and I guard the lake. There is something there that needs protection… Prepare to battle!"

He stomped forward, each footstep causing small quakes that threw everyone off balance. Claire rolled out of the way of another attempted Slash, countering with a Water Pulse. Given Groudon's size, the attack didn't cause him too much damage, since it hit such a small portion of him; there was still a type advantage, however, causing Groudon to visibly wince.

Meanwhile, Iris had managed to sneak up behind Groudon, and was now firing off repeated Ice Punches, dancing out of the way every time he tried to strike her. The attacks seemed to be doing little more than annoying him at first, but small bruises and, more importantly, patches of ice were forming on his skin, causing him to slow down. One of Groudon's Slash attacks nearly hit Iris, however; while she avoided the sharp edges of his claws, the side of his large hand still hit her, knocking her to the side.

"A little help here?" she demanded, panting.

"We're trying!" Felix responded.

He and Rin had been attempting to distract Groudon the whole time with a series of Ember and Bonemerang. It hadn't been working particularly well, but with the shouting, they'd caught Groudon's attention.

Focusing on Rin, Groudon took a deep breath as a Solarbeam began to form between his claws. As Rin had just attempted to hit him with another Bonemerang, she didn't have time to dodge. The beam hit her dead-on, and she tumbled backwards, collapsing in a heap.

At this, the three other members of the team had wildly different reactions. Felix stopped an Ember mid-attack, shuffling backwards in fear, while Claire hastily dug through her treasure bag for a Reviver Seed and tossed it to Rin. Iris immediately forgot any complaints and charged directly towards Groudon, both fists raised in preparation for a simultaneous Fire Punch and Ice Punch.

"That does it — no more taking it easy!"

The Fire Punch hit first, colliding with Groudon's chin as Iris leapt upwards. As Groudon jerked backwards in surprise, Iris followed with the Ice Punch, striking him right between the eyes. She then sprung off Groudon's forehead as he startled to wobble, rolling as she hit the ground, and got out of the way right before Groudon toppled over with an almighty thud.

After the shaking died down and Rin groggily managed to sit up, there was complete silence for a few seconds. Then, a rather odd lighting struck Groudon for a few seconds; he almost looked translucent. He then began outright glowing, and a bright yellow light exploded from his body. After a bit of smoke cleared, Groudon had literally disappeared.

"…What just happened?" Claire blinked.

"You got me," Iris replied, totally deadpan; her earlier anger had apparently been completely forgotten.

"_Come this way…"_

A small voice was barely audible, and then another yellow light appeared. When it faded, another Pokémon had appeared in Groudon's place, beckoning towards them. His two tails twirled as he turned around and started to float away, not stopping to see if Team Shadow was really following him or not.

Claire looked at Felix, Rin, and Iris in succession, and then shrugged. She darted after the new Pokémon, looking over her shoulder as her teammates reluctantly came with her. After passing through the gap in the rocks, Claire stopped suddenly and felt her eyes widen.

They'd stepped into a grassy field, the plant life creating an abrupt and very strange contrast to the rocky area they'd just been standing in. A sprawling lake lay ahead of them, with small streams branching out from it in various directions. Dozens of Volbeat and Illumise fluttered above them in the darkening sky — when had it gotten so late? — and their tail lights flickered in various colors.

"I'm Uxie, the real guardian here, and this is the lake you were looking for. What business do you have here?"

It was difficult to read Uxie's expression, as his eyes were barely open beyond a squint, but there was an odd tension in the air. Uxie seemed to be testing them, as if cautiously waiting for them to make an answer he wouldn't like. Whether it was because the rest of her team was hiding behind her (even Iris, Claire noted with a bit of amusement), or because of any inherent powers he had otherwise, Uxie had realized that Claire was the leader of the group, and he was focusing almost completely on her.

"We heard there was some kind of treasure here," Claire started carefully. When Uxie tensed, she hurriedly added, "We're with an exploration guild. We're not here to steal anything; we just wanted to see what was here."

"Hmm…" Uxie mused, floating a bit more closely to Claire for a more careful inspection. "Well, I do have to admit that you did well against my Groudon illusion, which is why I even brought you back here. It would take much more than that to defeat the real Groudon, of course, but I'm quite impressed."

"Wait a sec," Iris said suddenly, peeking out from behind Claire. "That thing wasn't real? I guess that explains why it just vanished like that, but it definitely felt real when I punched it all those times."

Uxie smiled. "Yes, well, it wouldn't be a very good illusion if I couldn't make it solid now, would it?"

Iris merely shrugged, waiting for Uxie to go on. He turned around, going closer to the lake's shore, and he beckoned to them again.

"Come closer. You answered me honestly, so I'll let you see what's in there."

Claire and Iris couldn't resist slapping a high-five as they gathered around Uxie. While Felix didn't look too thrilled about having to get that close to the water, he joined them nonetheless. Uxie then pointed out to a spot in the lake that had a greenish light reflecting off the surface.

"See that green light out there? The water here is actually fairly shallow, so if you look carefully, you should be able to see what's underneath."

The four of them obediently leaned forward and squinted. A small, green gear was barely visible under the water, and the light was obviously emanating from it. Felix, Rin, and Iris all looked excited, but Claire frowned. Her head had started pounding, and her heartbeat had sped up; there was something in the back of her mind telling her that she _knew_ what that thing was, and that she'd seen it before…

She shook her head, trying to pay attention, when she realized Uxie had continued his explanation.

"That's a Time Gear," he was saying. "I'm sure you've heard of them before."

Felix gasped. "A _Time Gear_? You'd really let us get this close to one?"

"Well, naturally, I'd stop you if you tried to take it. Or, rather, I could make you forget about it…"

"Make us forget?" Rin repeated, tilting her head to the side curiously. "How does that work?"

"Hmm? There are plenty of overblown rumors in the area; I'm surprised you didn't hear any of them." Uxie's voice had a hint of amusement now. "A lot of the Pokémon here think I can completely wipe away every memory they've had…"

Rin then noticed Claire's expression; her ears had been perking up ever since Uxie had said the word "forget," and she'd been listening rather eagerly. She'd drooped a bit, however, upon catching the implication that Uxie's powers were limited.

"You should ask him about it," Rin prompted.

"Ask me about what?" Uxie queried, puzzling over the vague phrasing.

"Oh," Claire said hesitantly. "It's just, I've got a bit of amnesia, but ever since we arrived, I've felt like I've been here before… Do you know if I have?"

"You don't seem familiar to me, but even so… I can only manipulate memories about the lake and the Time Gear," Uxie responded. "I can't give anyone full amnesia. I'm sorry I can't give you any more answers…"

"No, that's fine." Claire smiled. "At least now I know something I _didn't_ do…"

"That's certainly one way to think about it…"

Claire turned back to look at the lake as Uxie continued speaking. Her attention was drawn once again to the Time Gear in the lake's center; if she really hadn't been there before, why did it feel like she recognized it so much?

'_Take it… take it now!'_

Claire mewed in surprise; a small voice, one very similar to one of the voices she'd heard at the statue, had just echoed in her mind. No, she couldn't do that, could she? That would make time stop. Yet the idea seemed natural to her, and she started trembling.

Felix noticed, and he tilted his head to the side and gave her a brief, bewildered look. Before he could say anything, however, Wigglytuff's voice suddenly floated over to them, calling out "Hello, friendly friends! I've been looking all over for you!" and he himself was visible a few seconds later. Claire shook herself and forced a grin as the rest of Team Shadow tried to explain Wigglytuff's presence to a very baffled-looking Uxie.

And, for the rest of the conversation — which became admittedly humorous when the rest of the guild tumbled onto the scene — Claire tried very, very hard not to look back over at the Time Gear.

* * *

_Author's Note x2_: I was thinking of adding a little bit of Felix's POV in here, but, holy waffles. This chapter is already a lot longer than I was intending for it to be. Also, I know that in-game, Groudon speaks IN ALL CAPS, but while that works well enough in-game, I feel like that would be really annoying to type (not to mention read) in story-format.

And yes, I also know that team recruits can't come with you in the expedition in-game, as they're not really guild members… I did have Rin and Iris officially join the guild, though. Not to mention they're going to continue to be important parts of the team, so I didn't want to kick them out of this chapter. And since Team Shadow has four members, that's why Bidoof got stuck with Team Lightning.


	8. Success and Setbacks

_Author's Note_: And back to Leaf. Most of the rest of the chapters will be alternating between him and Claire, if the story stays with the plan I have for it… This chapter mainly consists of gathering Time Gears, though it does have some of Leaf's reactions to seeing Claire around…

**Chapter Eight: Success and Setbacks**

Leaf once again found himself in Treasure Town, scavenging about for information before making up his mind. It had been at least a week or two since he'd taken the Time Gear from Limestone Cavern, and although word had spread quickly enough, his involvement thankfully hadn't been discovered yet.

He was quite lucky this time, he knew; Leaf shuddered as his mind repeatedly drifted back to thoughts of Team Aura Blade.

Leaf had forced himself to push them out of his thoughts. He had much more important things to think about, and right now he needed all the information he could get. While the residents of the past world generally didn't seem to speak too much of the Time Gears — except for the fact that two of them had gone missing, of course — he managed to pick up valuable clues every once in a while.

Currently, Leaf was debating which of the guarded Time Gears to go after, as he was reluctant to go to Dark Crater. He'd set himself down near a thick cluster of bushes near a few of the town square's vendor stalls, camouflaging himself well. While going over his Wonder Map for what seemed like the twelfth time in the past half hour, a specific conversation happened to catch his attention…

"Oh, hello, my dears! Is it true that the guild is going out on an expedition soon?"

"Yeah! We're going to check out Fogbound Lake in a few days!"

Leaf froze. What in the world could they be planning for Fogbound Lake? Surely they didn't know there was a Time Gear there… He carefully peered around the bushes, trying to listen in a bit more closely.

A Meowth and a Chimchar were currently speaking with Kangaskhan, the owner of the storage booth. Leaf had seen the pair several times before while gathering information, but he still always did a bit of a double-take when he saw Meowth — or rather, the huge scars she was sporting. Did the guild not care about their recruits' safety at all, or had she gotten them some other way? Not to mention his mind always drifted to Claire; her father _was_ a Persian, after all, so maybe the Meowth was some distant ancestor of hers…

Shaking his head, Leaf tried to concentrate.

"Oh, I hear there's a lot of interesting things over there," Kangaskhan was saying. "I'll bet the Kecleon brothers will love to see what you all bring back!"

"I'm sure," Meowth replied, grinning as she handed Kangaskhan a few items. "Anyway, this is all we need to give you today… Do we need to get anything out of storage, Felix?"

Chimchar shook his head, and Meowth closed up her Treasure Bag. Waving to Kangaskhan, the pair started to walk away, and Leaf shrank down slightly to make sure they didn't see him.

"All right, see you later, Kangaskhan!" Meowth called cheerfully.

"Goodbye, dears!"

Leaf felt his stomach turn as he watched the pair leave. Fogbound Lake… It was highly unlikely that the Wigglytuff Guild actually knew about the Time Gear there, as he and Claire had needed to use her Dimensional Scream ability in order to find the gears. However, there was always the off chance that they could find the Time Gear after they got to the lake…

He tried to convince himself that made little sense, as it was unlikely that they'd even be able to find their way to real lake-bed area. It wasn't like the Pokémon of the past would take the Time Gears from their locations anyway, even if they did happen upon their locations.

The consolations felt a bit hollow, though. Fogbound Lake would have to be Leaf's next destination, though of course he'd need to wait until the expedition was over; he knew he'd have enough trouble with the area without having to deal with all the guild members.

Sighing, Leaf crept through the edge of town, hoping to pick up as much information on the guild's expedition as possible.

* * *

The waiting this time made Leaf even more anxious than usual. He watched Treasure Town extremely closely, looking for signs of the guild's recruits; he wanted to get going as soon as they got back.

Fortunately, it only took a few days, and Leaf felt a wave of relief when he caught sight of several of the guild's members in the usual crowd. He caught sight of Meowth and Chimchar first, as Meowth's scars made her stand out easily. While he was itching to get over to Fogbound Lake, Leaf decided to do just a bit more listening in; he had to find out if they'd seen the Time Gear or not…

The two stopped at the Kecleon brothers' stall, and the two chameleon Pokémon chattered excitedly as Meowth began looking at their wares.

"Oh, Meowth! Don't you have anything you want to sell us?" the green one said in a rush.

"Yes, yes, the guild always brings back so much treasure from their expeditions!" the purple one added. "We'd love to hear all about what you found…"

"Um… Actually, we didn't really find much of anything. Sorry," Meowth replied sheepishly as she examined a few of the brothers' berries.

Leaf frowned. He'd heard plenty about the guild's reputation; surely they wouldn't be too happy about letting the recruits admit to such a thing. Not to mention, while that meant it was possible they hadn't seen the Time Gear, it was also quite possible that they'd found it and were just covering…

"What? That's disappointing…" the green Kecleon sighed. "Are you sure about that?"

Chimchar nodded. "Yeah… We wish we could have brought you some stuff, but…"

"Ah, well, there's always the next expedition," the purple brother replied, trying to perk back up. "Well, what can we get for you today?"

That seemed to be the end of the relevant information, as Meowth proceeded to pick up a few Oran Berries and then ask about Reviver Seeds. Sighing, Leaf sneaked away from the stall; at the very least, whether or not the guild had actually seen the Time Gear, it had to still be at Fogbound Lake. He would have liked to know for sure, as the idea of taking a Time Gear that such an important group had seen made him a bit nervous. There was always the chance that it would motivate them to come after him should word get out, but he didn't have much of a choice.

It was with that not-very-relieving thought that Leaf headed towards the crossroads at the edge of Treasure Town, willing himself to get to Fogbound Lake as quickly as possible.

* * *

Leaf sighed in relief as he finally pushed his way though some of the thick underbrush at the edge of Foggy Forest. It had taken him much longer than necessary to get to his destination, partly because once he'd gotten close to the forest, he'd combed the area for the Drought Stone that Claire had seen in her vision. He hadn't seen anything that could have possibly fit that description in the entire forest, and he hoped that just meant he was getting closer to it instead of farther away.

As he stepped into the clearing, Leaf carefully looked around again. It would be so much easier if Claire was there to describe her Dimensional Scream to him again… Given how he was now near the lake, Leaf hoped that meant that the Drought Stone would be nearby.

The Groudon statue was right ahead of him, and Leaf found himself drawn to it, remembering having been there with Claire. As he approached it, a quick flash of red caught his eye. Leaf knelt down, pushing through the grass at the statue's base. A red gemstone was lying there, and Leaf found himself grinning absently; that had to be it… Scanning the statue again, he found the hole in its chest, and inserted the stone there.

As the fog cleared, Leaf couldn't help looking around in awe. Despite how long he'd been in the past, the beautiful scenery had a profound effect on him; it helped that he'd specifically seen the area around Fogbound Lake in its paralyzed state, and the difference was striking.

Several moments later, Leaf reluctantly shook himself, taking another look around now that he could see clearly. As Claire had suggested, he could now easily make out the cave entrance in the base of the landmass in the distance, and he hurried towards it. Given how narrow the entrance was, it likely would have taken him much longer to find it in the fog.

Still, the fact that the stone had been lying that close to the statue seemed a bit suspicious… Hopefully it didn't mean that the guild's members had figured out what to do with it on their expedition. On the one hand, it was possible that Uxie would be more willing to speak with him if he had let other Pokémon get that close to him, but on the other hand, another visitor so soon might make him wary.

Leaf forced that thought out of his mind as he wound through Steam Cave. He really needed to concentrate, as the dungeon was filled with Fire- and Bug-Types. As he tried to dodge the numerous Yanma and Magby, Leaf remembered precisely why he hadn't wanted to go to Dark Crater… At the very least, the Pokémon in Steam Cave didn't seem _quite_ as aggressive as he'd heard the ones at Dark Crater were.

Leaf finally reached the end of the dungeon, silently cursing the fact that he'd used up a good deal of his Oran Berries thanks to his type disadvantages. Scanning the area, Leaf frowned; there was certainly no lake in sight, though he knew there should be.

Before he could think further, a heavy rumbling shook the area. Bracing himself, Leaf felt his eyes widen; a large form was visible between the hills in the distance, and moments later he was staring up at Groudon. The quakes intensified with each of the massive Pokémon's steps as Groudon roared.

So that had to be the "security system" that Jirachi had mentioned. Yet something was a bit odd; Leaf didn't have too much time to think, but he scowled to himself for a moment… It seemed strange that Groudon, of all Pokémon, would be serving as Uxie's backup when the lake wasn't even visible yet, even if there had been a statue of him near Foggy Forest's exit…

"What is your business here?" Groudon demanded.

"Where's Uxie?" Leaf replied, trying to keep his voice as even as possible. "I know he's the real guardian here—"

Leaf was cut off by Groudon spitting a Flamethrower at him. While he managed to dodge the flames, the hot air shimmering away from the attack nearly scorched him. Leaf hissed, panting as he tried to scramble further out of range.

"I _am_ the guardian here!" Groudon roared. "You're clearly after something! I cannot let you pass!"

Groudon breathed out another Flamethrower, and Leaf managed to roll out of the way just in time. He then sped forward, boosting his speed with a Quick Attack. Leaping upwards, Leaf rammed into Groudon's unarmored stomach, and the larger Pokémon gave a dull cry of surprise.

"That's — a — lie!"

Leaf punctuated each word with a Leaf Blade, and large cuts immediately spread over Groudon's chest. As he tumbled back to the ground, Leaf caught his breath and prepared to charge again. He hesitated briefly, however; an odd light flickered over Groudon's body, if only for a moment.

Taking advantage of the pause, Groudon slashed forward with one of his massive claws, almost catching Leaf off guard. One claw managed to tear into Leaf's skin, and he grunted as blood started dripping from his shoulder. Trying to shake it off, Leaf slashed out with another Leaf Blade before Groudon had the chance to catch his balance.

His speed really did give him an advantage at this point; despite having been hit, Leaf was far more agile than Groudon. He managed to get in several more Leaf Blade attacks in rapid succession, and didn't give Groudon time enough to react. After a dishing out a particularly deep slash to the chin, Leaf jumped backwards to catch his breath again.

Leaf noticed another odd flickering light covering Groudon's body as he tried to dig through his bag for an Oran Berry. The massive Pokémon was wheezing, with his torso covered in slashes, and he seemed almost translucent. Deciding he didn't need to worry about healing himself just yet, Leaf lashed out with one final Leaf Blade.

Groudon slowly tumbled forward, glowing more and more brightly. Just before he would have hit the ground, light and smoke exploded from his body, and he disappeared completely.

Leaf's eyes widened for a moment as he finally allowed himself to eat an Oran Berry. There was a small shadow hovering in the smoke as it dissipated, but it too vanished before he could get a closer look. It was becoming all too clear that it had been an illusion — a highly realistic one; how in the world had he been able to feel that?

Even had he not needed the Time Gear, Leaf's curiosity would have led him through the hills in the distance. There was a Pokémon there waiting for him as the crag abruptly turned into grass, and the lake sprawled out ahead of them as he'd expected. Uxie was facing away from him, but obviously heard him approaching.

"You heard from them, didn't you?"

"Them?" Leaf repeated dubiously. "I presume you mean the Wigglytuff Guild? I heard of this place long before I learned about their expedition."

Uxie turned around to face him, and although his eyes were closed, Leaf took care to avert his gaze slightly. He hadn't heard much, but Jirachi had warned him never to look Uxie in the face; it apparently made it much easier for Uxie to alter his memories that way, and it wasn't a risk he could afford to take.

"I _am_ quite impressed that you managed to defeat my Groudon illusion, but… It's quite clear you're not here for sightseeing," Uxie analyzed.

"Indeed. I'm sorry about this, but I don't think you'd agree to just hand over your Time Gear…"

"What could you possibly need with—"

Leaf didn't give him a chance to finish. Another of his quick Leaf Blade strikes was all it took to catch Uxie by surprise, and Leaf darted forward while the Psychic-Type was trying to catch his breath; all he wanted to do was temporarily stun Uxie. Even if he did have time for another fight, Leaf shuddered as he recalled his battle with Ditto; he didn't want to repeat that debacle.

The water was fairly shallow, yet fortunately deep enough that he could submerge himself from view. The Time Gear wasn't too far away, either; thankfully, Leaf didn't have to hold his breath for too long. He plunged his free claw into his treasure bag the instant he'd grabbed the gear, clutching one of the Escape Orbs he'd managed to find on his way there.

As the orb activated, an odd twisting feeling formed in Leaf's stomach; it was quite similar to how he felt when Celebi had teleported him places. When his vision cleared, Leaf was standing back in front of the entrance to Steam Cave, and the Escape Orb had taken on a dull, lifeless hue. Leaf smiled as he flung it to the side; the whole thing had taken less than a few minutes.

He carefully put his third Time Gear into his bag, wisely deciding to leave the area before all the residents managed to flee the cave and notice him.

* * *

Upon returning to Treasure Town, Leaf settled into his usual habit of scavenging for information. As usual, it took a couple days for news to spread, though this time word got out much faster. This time, the results were also far more disastrous than usual.

He'd been discovered.

He found it out almost immediately; while news may have generally taken a while to reach Treasure Town, it spread like wildfire once the resident Pokémon actually heard about it. Apparently, unlike Ditto, Uxie had managed to recover quickly enough to get away from Fogbound Lake in time, and Leaf now cursed himself for having held back.

Really, it had been bound to happen sooner or later, but he would have much rather preferred for it to be later.

It didn't help matters at all that Leaf had started to hear rumors of a "great Dusknoir" who had been helping the town's Pokémon recently. While it wouldn't have surprised him at all if it was the same Dusknoir who had caused trouble for the Planetary Investigation Team — it would have surprised him _more_ if Dusknoir didn't follow him back in time — he still hoped otherwise. Not only did it mean he'd have to work even faster, Leaf sincerely hoped that wherever Claire was, she hadn't run into Dusknoir yet.

Sighing, Leaf made sure he was safely hidden by the shrubbery behind Duskull's bank as he opened his Wonder Map. The Northern Desert and Crystal Cave were his last two destinations, and he had to choose especially wisely now more than ever. Neither of them were as far away as he would have liked, but since everyone would be on the lookout for him now, he supposed it wouldn't have helped much to pick based on location anyway.

The Northern Desert, at least, would likely have a good deal of Ground-Types, which would make the trip go a bit more smoothly. It was with that thought that he folded up his map and set out, watching his back even more than usual as he headed for the crossroads at the end of town…

* * *

Fortunately, Leaf had been correct in assuming he'd have an advantage in Northern Desert. Any skirmishes he got himself into barely slowed him down at all, which was certainly a blessing given the sandstorms he encountered deeper in the dungeon.

It most certainly could be worse. When Leaf reached the end of the dungeon and arrived at the quicksand pits, he counted himself lucky that Michelle had been so forthcoming with her search findings despite the fact that she hadn't expected Claire to be the one gathering Time Gears. And if Leaf hadn't known that he was _supposed_ to do something as crazy as leap into quicksand, he certainly would have turned back.

Leaf held his breath and closed his eyes as he sank through the sand, and he coughed and sputtered as he hit the ground in the dungeon below. Shaking himself off, he proceeded quickly, glad once again that he had an upper hand against most of the dungeon's residents.

He nearly panicked upon running into a Skorupi, however. Leaf sighed in relief when the scorpion Pokémon scuttled away; she wasn't the one that Leaf had met before. He internally scolded himself; his haste was making him way too jumpy.

Leaf skidded to a halt when he reached the depths of the dungeon. He could hear the faint sound of water, indicating he'd nearly reached the lake, but there were also voices… A couple of them even sounded familiar. Quietly, Leaf slowly walked around the last corner and peered into the next room.

"For someone so adorable, you sure are stubborn! Come on, Mesprit, just listen to us already!"

"I can't — don't lie to me! I heard all about you from Uxie!"

"What? But we didn't do anything to him!"

Leaf groaned in disbelief. The Meowth and Chimchar he'd seen around Treasure Town were up ahead, accompanied by a Machop and a Cubone; oddly enough, he didn't recall ever seeing the four of them together in town. That didn't matter too much at the moment, but Leaf couldn't believe his poor timing. He'd been hoping to avoid running into any trouble…

After a moment's observation, Leaf hesitantly concluded that they might not be trouble after all. They were gathered around Mesprit, and while their stances had initially made the situation unclear, he could make out heavy bruises on all of them. Mesprit was in a heap on the cave's floor, and she was glaring up at the team.

Leaf reluctantly headed into the main chamber, and the five occupants whipped around in surprise as they heard him approach. Machop pointed accusingly at him as he got closer.

"Hey! You're the one on the wanted poster, aren't you?" she demanded.

There were wanted posters already? Leaf bit his tongue in an attempt to hold back a frustrated growl. He folded his arms over his chest as he composed himself.

"And if I was going to take the Time Gear, what could any of you do about it? You've really cut my work out for me," he replied.

Mesprit's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, you four — I should have listened!"

Slowly, she managed to pull herself up and floated in front of the team. Mesprit raised her arms as her eyes glowed somewhat dully; she was probably trying to prepare a Psychic attack. However, Leaf easily rammed into her with a Quick Attack, sending her tumbling right back down to the ground.

"That fight obviously took a lot out of you. I don't want to make things worse for you."

He tried to dart forward towards the lake, but a sudden burst of electricity hit the ground near Leaf's feet. Grunting in surprise, he flipped around to see Meowth pointing her claws at him. Despite the fact that she was wheezing pretty heavily, and her three teammates were attempting to tend to Mesprit, Meowth was glaring at him.

Leaf gave the cat Pokémon a brief look over before deciding what to do. Fortunately, she hadn't gained any new cuts from that fight — the scars she already had hadn't healed up at all from the last time he'd seen her in Treasure Town. However, she was obviously exhausted… It wouldn't take much to swat her out of the way.

Oddly enough, as Leaf's eyes flickered over her face, he caught sight of her eyes. They were almost the exact same shade of brown as Claire's were… Didn't Meowth normally have black eyes? And, upon seeing the scar on her forehead, Leaf recalled that Claire had gotten injured when they'd been in the Passage of Time…

Taking advantage of the fact that Leaf was busy catching the coincidences, Meowth tried to lash out at him with a Night Slash. Her reflexes were too slow at the moment, so Leaf focused in time to dodge. He then darted towards the lake again before Meowth had the chance to regain her balance.

Once again, fortunately the lake wasn't too deep. Leaf easily reached the Time Gear, even with his limited swimming abilities. The instant he grabbed it, Leaf reached into his treasure bag and reached for another Escape Orb.

Seconds later, Leaf was standing outside the entrance of the Northern Desert. He sighed again as he secured the Time Gear in his bag; at least things had smoothed out despite the hold-up, and he hadn't actually had to battle Mesprit. Still, it seemed as if the past two Time Gears had been a bit _too_ easy to obtain…

Shaking his head, Leaf tried to assure himself that he was worrying too much. He just needed one more, and then he'd have the required five; now was no time to be getting nervous.

* * *

Leaf had an odd mixture of dread and excitement coursing through his mind as he approached Crystal Cave. He was _so close_, and yet right now he needed to be more careful than ever. Fortunately, Crystal Cave wasn't too long of a dungeon; although several rooms were fairly large, overall it didn't take him too long to traverse.

Leaf breathed a sigh of relief when he arrived in the final room of the dungeon. Three large crystals towered over him, and he knew precisely what to do. Crystal Cave was the first location that Michelle and Blitz had found, and they had explained the crystals to Claire in a good amount of detail.

He quickly touched all three crystals, and static ran over them as they changed colors. When they settled on a dark blue, the chamber shook as a surge of white light gathered between the crystals. Leaf had to cover his eyes for a moment, and when he looked back up, the crystal passage had formed in front of him.

Leaf eagerly darted on ahead, but he couldn't help frowning when he heard the entrance close up behind him. If it didn't reopen later, he'd just have to consider himself lucky that he had a decent supply of Escape Orbs. Either way, Leaf tried to keep himself focused as he progressed further into the dungeon.

The crossing took him longer to traverse than the main dungeon had, but that didn't really surprise him too much. He did have a rather close call with a Glalie at one point, but otherwise, the area was fairly straightforward apart from its length.

When Leaf reached the final area, he was relieved to see that the lake was both out in the open and that there wasn't anyone immediately in sight, unlike with Fogbound Lake and Quicksand Cave, respectively. The lack of presence was a bit suspicious, though… Hadn't Jirachi mentioned that Azelf should be there?

As if on cue, the guardian materialized in front of the lake when Leaf took another step forward. Azelf's eyes narrowed, but he remained quiet for a few moments as Leaf continued approaching. When he'd gotten fairly close, Azelf finally spoke.

"Don't think I don't know what you want," Azelf warned.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect you not to know," Leaf replied. "But I need your Time Gear, and I hope you know I'm not going to give up easily."

"Of course… and neither will I."

With that, Azelf's eyes flashed, and a burst of energy shot towards Leaf. He dodged the Psychic blast just in time, and lunged forward with his leaves raised. Azelf floated out of the way just as easily, and Leaf growled. He tried to slash forward again, only for Azelf to effortlessly float even higher.

"Don't make this difficult, Azelf!"

As Azelf lowered himself to prepare another Psychic, Leaf charged towards him, boosting his speed with a Quick Attack. Leaping into the air, Leaf's speed gave him enough momentum to crash into Azelf, and the two of them tumbled back down to the floor.

Azelf cried out in surprise, but he managed to strike Leaf with the attack he'd meant to use earlier. Leaf hissed as the move hit him straight on, and the brightness caused him to be essentially blind for a few moments. Frantically, he tried to slash downwards, hoping at least one attack would connect while his vision refocused.

He felt his leaves slash into Azelf several times, but moments later, Leaf was flung backwards with another Psychic attack. Grunting as he hit the ground, Leaf rolled to the side as he forced himself back up. He'd admittedly had fairly low expectations thanks to his encounters with Uxie and Mesprit…

Azelf himself seemed to be tiring out as well, and Leaf took the opportunity to ram into him with another Quick Attack. The Psychic-Type's eyes widened as the wind was knocked out of him, and Leaf adeptly jumped over him and dashed towards the lake.

"All right…" he grumbled. "Now, just to get that Time Gear!"

"N-no," Azelf gasped, trying to catch his breath. "I won't let you!"

Suddenly, a sharp cracking sound echoed through the area, and the lake's surface shook. A series of crystals burst through the water, making a wall of sorts as they climbed higher and higher. They stopped before reaching the chamber's ceiling, but nonetheless, they were far too high for Leaf to attempt to climb over.

Leaf felt a knot of panic form in his stomach; the obvious way to his last Time Gear was now blocked off. Whirling around in frustration, Leaf glared at Azelf. He was now nearly in a heap on the ground, likely having used up the rest of his energy forming those crystals.

"Azelf! Take that barrier down this instant—"

"Leave him alone, Grovyle!"

Leaf groaned as the team he'd seen at Mesprit's lake arrived in the chamber, with Meowth fairly far in the lead. How in the world had they known to come here? And, of course, they'd arrived at an incredibly inconvenient time…

Four-against-one odds… A fight certainly wouldn't be easy. Of course, Leaf had gotten out of far worse situations in the dark future, he reminded himself. Even alone, it would be difficult but not impossible.

Of course, a fight was what they wanted. Despite being in a fairly large group, they seemed to have a good amount of coordination rather than getting in each other's way. He watched them break into pairs, with Cubone and Machop trying to attack him from one side, while Chimchar and Meowth came at him from the other side.

Leaf relied on his speed, as usual, dodging a good number of their moves as he watched their growing frustration. Eventually, he realized that dodging repeatedly would just tire him out, and he needed to get on the offensive at some point… Leaf paused for a moment to consider some options. Cubone wouldn't be much of a problem, he mused, but Chimchar could give him some difficulty… He should likely go after Meowth and Chimchar first, then.

While he'd stopped to think, Cubone took the opportunity to lash out at him with a Bone Club attack. Leaf grunted as he stumbled backwards, feeling a large bruise immediately forming on his chest. Machop then darted behind him, pinning her arms around him to lock him in place.

"You know…" she muttered. "You're a lot cuter up close than you are on that stupid wanted poster, so it's a shame that we're going to have to get a bit rough with you now…" She then shouted, "Felix! Come on!"

Chimchar nodded, blasting an Ember towards them. Leaf panicked as things started to move in slow motion. Machop let go of him, and he briefly felt her hands on his back as she tried to shove him into the flames.

An idea suddenly flashed into his mind, and Leaf rapidly tore into the surprisingly soft ground of the dungeon. He managed to get himself underground in just enough time; he felt the fire shimmering right over his head, and Leaf sighed in relief. He then heard a surprised shriek as the Ember struck Machop; that had been exactly what he'd been planning.

Leaf leapt back up just in time to see Cubone anxiously running towards Machop, and he lashed out at Cubone with several successive Leaf Blades. She tumbled to the ground in a heap next to Machop, covered in large gashes. Then Leaf turned to the other two; Chimchar looked incredibly nervous at this point, and while Meowth looked a bit nervous, she managed to look a bit calmer than her partner.

He easily rammed into Chimchar before the Fire-Type had time to dodge, and then flung him to the side with a Quick Attack. For good measure, Leaf struck Chimchar across the back with several Pound attacks as he fell to the floor. Chimchar's eyes remained in a wide-eyed stare as he collapsed.

That left just Meowth, and she stepped backwards as he approached. She then grinned, however, and her whiskers twitched in a manner extremely reminiscent of Blitz as she launched a Thunderbolt at him. Leaf stepped to the side, but the attack scorched his side, and he winced. Meowth took the opportunity to shoot another Thunderbolt at him. Leaf managed to roll completely out of the way this time, but he couldn't help thinking about how Thunderbolt had been Claire's preferred method of attacking as well…

Leaf then darted towards Meowth, striking her with a Pound, and she mewed in surprise as the attack hit. As with Cubone, Leaf finished her off with a Leaf Blade, and then he quickly turned back towards the lake as Meowth crumpled. He had to figure out a way around those crystals, but trying to use Dig to get underneath the lake would be quite risky…

Before Leaf could get too much closer, he felt a fist collide with his back, and he gasped as he stumbled forward. Had one of them gotten back up? Scrambling to his feet, Leaf whipped around to see who it was, and felt his breath catch in his throat.

_Dusknoir_, of all Pokémon, was hovering over him. Leaf had definitely expected the Ghost-Type to follow him back to the past… He was the last Pokémon Leaf wanted to see right now, though.

"Why, Dusknoir," Leaf spat. "Imagine seeing you here! I should have known you'd show up at such a time."

"Ah, Grovyle…" Dusknoir chuckled coldly. "You've given me quite the chase, but your time is up. Care to come easily? Or will you make this needlessly difficult?"

"What a thing to ask. You really think I would just give myself up?"

With that, Leaf promptly dug himself another hole, flinging dirt above himself for cover as he did so. He heard Dusknoir roaring over him as he effectively vanished. Once he'd gone down a significant distance, Leaf reached into his bag and grabbed an Escape Orb, smirking as he was warped out of the dungeon.

As he materialized outside, Leaf sighed and closed his eyes. With that barrier in the way, it would be difficult to get the Time Gear quickly… Surely it couldn't be indestructible, though Leaf had no idea how he'd go about getting it out of the way.

There was always Dark Crater… It had no guardian, after all. But he _knew_ Dark Crater wouldn't be much easier than trying to get through the crystal barrier. At this point, either location would be a gamble. And yet, this was _why_ Michelle had wanted to find six Time Gears — to prevent this kind of situation.

Perhaps he should just get over his paranoia and go to Dark Crater.

Before Leaf could think further, he saw a rustling in a bush nearby, and there was a flash of purple that looked oddly like a Sableye. Of course Dusknoir would have brought a few of his minions along… The Sableye would surely go into Crystal Cave and report that Leaf was standing around outside like a sitting duck.

Leaf promptly dashed away, deciding to just get as much distance between him and Crystal Cave as possible for now. He could make his final decision when he was in a safer location.

* * *

"Hey, Vigoroth! Did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

Leaf carefully peered out from behind the tree he'd been resting under. He'd been mentally arguing with himself for quite some time, going around in circles about where he should go. Perhaps the distraction would be welcome.

Vigoroth had been stopped by one of the shop owners, Electivire. The Electric-Type leaned over his counter with a grin as Vigoroth approached him.

"I just heard from Team Shadow that Azelf and the great Dusknoir are trying to find a way to permanently seal away the Time Gears. Crazy stuff, huh?"

"I'll say! Do you even think that's possible?"

"Who knows? But it'll be worth it if it works, don't you think? Oh, and by the way, could you run over to Marowak's Dojo and tell him I accidentally got some of his mail the other day?"

Leaf didn't hear the rest of the conversation; his hearing tuned out for a moment as he felt his claws shaking. This was even worse than the crystal barrier — at least that could possibly be torn down. And did they really mean _all_ the Time Gears, or just the one at Crystal Lake?

He couldn't risk Dark Crater now. Even if he managed to get all the way to the Time Gear, there was the chance he wouldn't actually be able to get it; he'd potentially be endangering himself for no reason. At least with Crystal Cave, the dungeon itself was safer…

Without a moment's more hesitation, Leaf fled Treasure Town, but not without the nagging feeling that something was about to go very, very wrong.

* * *

_Author's Note x2_: It occurred to me while I was writing the bit at Crystal Crossing that Dusknoir hasn't shown up nearly as much as would be expected. While it's probably just an unfortunate effect of the alternating-points-of-view-every-chapter format, Dusknoir will definitely be showing up more here soon.


	9. Back To The Future

_Author's Note_: In this chapter, Blissey makes a comeback, a new character gets a brief mention, lighthearted stuff happens with the guild, and the game's "holy waffles, I was NOT expecting that" moment happens. Also, please excuse the horribly obvious shout-out in the chapter title.

**Chapter Nine: Back to the Future**

The first thing Claire noticed was that she was very warm, and next, that she was lying on something very comfortable… It certainly didn't feel like she was in Crystal Cave anymore. When Claire opened her eyes, things were a bit blurry. It was obvious that she was in her room back at the guild, though, which was a relief.

"C-Claire?"

Felix's voice sounded groggy, and Claire rolled over to see the Chimchar on his usual bed beside hers. His eyes were only half-open, and his torso was bruised lightly. Beyond him, Rin and Iris were stirring, but weren't quite awake yet.

"How long have you been up?" Claire asked.

"J-just a few minutes…"

"I don't wanna get up yet…"

Iris muttered, suddenly attempting to sit up. Rin's eyes fluttered open as Iris promptly crashed back down to the floor.

"How long have we been here?" Iris groaned.

"_They're awake, everybody_!"

A loud shriek sounded from the doorway. Heliona was sitting there, and she gleefully spun around and darted down the hallway. The rest of the recruits stampeded in, with only a few phrases being understandable under the din.

"Not so loudly, Heliona!"

"It's ABOUT TIME you all got up! It's been AGES!"

"Oh my gosh! This is so great!"

"Everyone, please back up and stop crowding the poor dears."

The guild's members sheepishly stepped aside as Blissey squeezed into the room. Sighing, the nurse gave a quick glance to Team Shadow, all of whom were still a bit confused.

"You were out for a few days," she informed them. "I've been here checking up on you at Wigglytuff's request."

"A few days?" Claire repeated. "But that fight didn't even take very long. I didn't think we got hurt _that_ badly…"

Blissey shook her head. "Most of your injuries weren't too bad, though you and Cubone had quite a few deep gashes. Under normal circumstances, you'd probably be fine, but it sounds like that thief really caught you off guard… Oh, here, all of you need to drink some of this."

She handed each of them a small glass bottle. As Claire drank the medicine, she recognized it as the same mixture that Blissey had given her the day she'd joined the guild. She watched with interest as a few cuts on her chest glowed faintly; unlike her scars, the marks from Grovyle's Leaf Blade attack healed up instantly.

Claire turned to her teammates, watching as they did as Blissey told. Iris winced as she swallowed her medicine — it _was_ quite bitter, Claire admitted — but Iris proceeded to grin as the burn marks on her body disappeared. Felix and Rin looked much more eager to drink their doses upon seeing Claire and Iris's results, and their injuries healed up just as quickly.

"All right," Blissey said with a smile, collecting the empty bottles. "I'll check back in another day or two, but I'll go ahead and stress how important it is for you to relax. See you again soon, dears!"

She turned around and pushed her cart out of the room, and the rattling was audible for several minutes. Afterwards, Heliona poked her head back into the room.

"Chatot wants you guys to come out into the main room," she said.

With that, the Vulpix bounded away. Claire rose to her feet and took a few wobbly steps and watched as Iris stood up with slightly more ease. Felix and Rin looked dizzier, with Felix clutching on to Claire's shoulder for support.

The four of them wearily shuffled down the residential hallway and out into the basement's main room. When they arrived, the other recruits started cheering, though they gave Team Shadow more space this time. Chatot had a hint of concern on his face as the four of them settled into their usual spots.

"Well, now that we have everyone…" Chatot started, his gaze lingering on Team Shadow. "The great Dusknoir wanted me to inform all of you that he's just called a meeting in the town square, and he wanted as many of us as possible to attend. If Team Shadow is well enough, we should get over there as soon as—"

"Visitor detected! Visitor detected!"

"Not NOW, Diglett!" Loudred shouted towards the sentry grate. "This is IMPORTANT! Tell whoever it is to come back LATER!"

Diglett was apparently ignoring Loudred, however, as his voice could be vaguely heard conversing with whoever was outside. A few moments later, he spoke to the guild's members.

"But it's someone for Team Shadow…"

Chatot sighed, covering his face with his wing. "Let them in, but tell them to make it quick!"

The gate could be heard very faintly as it opened, and, before anyone had time to blink, a Glameow was sitting in front of the assembly. He instantly strode up to Team Shadow, purring as a grin spread over his face.

"Hey! You have no idea how long I've been waiting to come see you!"

"Who are you, again?" Claire blinked. "You look kind of familiar, but…"

"Oh, I know," Iris cut in. "You were the one following us around in Crystal Crossing, and I kept backhanding you because I thought you were trying to attack us."

"How do you remember these things?" Claire shook her head, giggling.

"Here, let me see if I'm right."

Iris walked over to Glameow, inspecting him closely. Then, she abruptly swung her fist into the poor Pokémon's face, and the recruits made various shocked expressions as Glameow tumbled over. Iris ignored this, instead rubbing her fist with a contemplative look on her face.

"Yeah, that was definitely you," Iris confirmed. "Your face feels the same."

"Iris!" Claire sighed, kneeling down to help Glameow up. "I'm sorry, that's just Iris for you. What is it you needed?"

"Well, at least we know Iris is really better," Felix mumbled, sharing a resigned look with Rin.

"I was going to ask you—"

Chatot abruptly cut him off. "Ask them later! We've wasted enough time, and we need to get over to the town square now!"

"You can come along with us if you want," Claire offered.

Glameow nodded as the recruits started filing over to the ladder. When they arrived outside, Claire grinned; knowing that she'd been unconscious for a few days made the fresh air a relief. She turned back to Glameow as they started walking down the stairs to the crossroads.

"So… my name's Bruce," he introduced. "I was watching you guys go through Crystal Crossing, and you looked pretty strong! I was really impressed, and…"

"H-how much did you see?" Claire winced. "Did you watch our battle with Grovyle?"

Bruce nodded again, and he surprisingly still looked excited.

"Yeah! Everyone knows what's going on, of course, but that's the first time I've actually seen someone put up a fight against Grovyle. You and Azelf sure managed to slow him down!"

Claire sighed in relief. "That makes me feel a bit better, I guess…"

By that point, the guild's members had arrived in Treasure Town. Most of the main residents, as well as several other rescue teams, had gathered there already. Dusknoir and the lake guardians were standing in front of them, and Mesprit quickly flipped around and looked at the approaching Pokémon.

"Oh! They're here, Dusknoir!" she called, waving eagerly.

"Very well," Dusknoir replied, pausing as the recruits settled into place. "Now, then… I'm presuming you all wish to hear what we've decided to do about Grovyle. However, there's something I need to tell to you first."

"What could be more important than that?" Vigoroth questioned, his well-known impatience earning him a groan from the assembly.

Dusknoir observed the crowd for a few moments before answering. "Why he's doing this, naturally. Grovyle's ultimate goal is to paralyze the planet."

The silence that followed was so complete that one could have heard a pin drop.

"W-what does that even MEAN?" Loudred finally demanded. "And HOW do you KNOW that?"

"Paralysis of the planet would refer to time halting _everywhere_. Enough Time Gears get taken, and that's what will happen. Day and night don't pass properly, the wind stops… I'm aware this is hard to understand, but it would be difficult to fully describe unless it actually happens."

Dusknoir paused for a moment, and a few Pokémon hesitantly gave nervous chuckles. It was hard to tell if Dusknoir's last phrase had been a joke or not. Nevertheless, the mouth markings on Dusknoir's stomach curved upwards into something resembling a smirk, and Claire blinked in surprise. However, the expression was gone seconds later, and she wondered if she'd just imagined it.

"But how do you…?" Dugtrio started.

"Well, that part is simple enough… in comparison, anyway. Grovyle came here from the future, to turn his time into the paralyzed world, and I'm here to stop him. I apologize for not telling you all this sooner, but—"

"Oh my gosh! Pokémon can come from the future?" Sunflora exclaimed.

Claire put her head in her paws as the assembled Pokémon started chattering in confusion. There was an odd tugging sensation in the back of her head, quite similar to the feeling she'd had at Fogbound Lake and the Northern Desert, but it was stronger this time. While she didn't know what either of those places had to do with her memory, she had even less of an idea why hearing about time travel would seem familiar.

The idea of a future that Dusknoir and Grovyle had come from didn't bother Claire so much in itself, she realized. That just made everything even weirder, though…

"Are you okay?"

Claire was shaken out of her thoughts when she heard Bruce's voice. The Glameow had seated himself to her left, and he was giving her a very curious look. On her other side, Felix noticed that Claire had spaced out as well, and he looked just as confused.

"Yeah, Claire," Felix added. "It's weird for you to not listen to something important…"

"I'm fine." Claire shook her head; she still had a bit of a headache, though it was fading. "Let's pay attention!"

"…Grovyle will probably try to come back to my lake," Azelf was saying. "He was incredibly angry last time, so I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to try me again."

"So you think we should bait him to you," Uxie clarified. "It seems risky, but…"

"It's our best bet, if you think about it!" Mesprit interjected. "We'll be expecting him this time, so we'll be able to prepare better. Is that fine with you, Dusknoir?"

The Ghost-Type folded his arms, but he nodded eventually. "As Uxie said, this _will_ be quite dangerous… If you three are up to it, however, I do agree that this plan has its merits. I'll just have to insist that the four of us are the only ones involved."

"Hey, hey… That's disappointing," Corphish sighed.

"We do need your help, though!" Mesprit grinned. "You guys can spread the news for us! If Grovyle hears about it, he'll be even more likely to come back to Crystal Crossing."

"Indeed." Dusknoir looked back at the assembled Pokémon. "Is this clear to everyone?"

Cheers and cries of agreement rose from the group, and Dusknoir and the lake guardians nodded to each other in satisfaction. Dusknoir waved his arms broadly to regain everyone's attention.

"All right, then! We'll go on to Azelf's lake. Everyone, do your part!"

The crowd parted, talking excitedly as they tried to process everything they'd just heard. As the recruits formed a line back to the guild, Felix looked over at Claire again.

"Oh, this just makes the great Dusknoir even more amazing, doesn't it?" Felix grinned, though it faded after a moment. "What were you thinking about earlier? You missed a bit of what Dusknoir said…"

Claire felt her whiskers twitch. "I was just wondering about the future, I guess."

Rin nodded. "That makes sense. I wonder what the future is even like…"

"Who cares about the future? You're thinking ahead all the time, anyway," Iris interrupted. "Let's just leave this to Dusknoir and relax!"

Rin sighed and shook her head, and Claire couldn't help laughing. Despite the current situation, Rin's exasperation with Iris was always amusing.

They arrived back at the guild shortly afterwards, and it took several minutes for everyone to climb down the entrance ladder. Claire stopped in the middle of the second basement, waiting for Bruce to catch up as the recruits dispersed. She grinned and scratched the back of her head as the Glameow sat down in front of her.

"Okay, _now_ you can tell us what you wanted to say earlier!"

"I was hoping I could join your team, if that's okay with you guys!"

"Um…" Claire looked over at Felix, Rin, and Iris. "Well, that would be nice, but we already have four members. I'm not sure if we're allowed to have more than that…"

"Of course you can!"

Chimecho's voice suddenly called out, and Claire looked up in surprise. Chimecho had been a few feet away, talking to Sunflora, and she floated over to Team Shadow.

"Chatot recently put me in charge of organizing everyone's team registries," she explained. "If you already have four teammates and you want to add someone else, you just have to put them on standby!"

"Standby?" Felix repeated. "What does that mean?"

"Glameow could join your team, but in order for him to come on missions with you, someone else would have to stay back here at the guild," Chimecho elaborated. "So, if you were going somewhere and you knew that, say, Machop would be a disadvantage, she could stay back and Glameow could come along instead."

"That makes sense…" Claire smiled. "Let's get Bruce registered, then!"

"Okay, let me find your list… Wait for me over there by the guildmaster's room!"

Team Shadow did as told while Chimecho floated into Wigglytuff's room. She came out a few minutes later, gripping the list by folding up the lower half of her body, and she set it down in front of Claire and Bruce.

"I just need you two to sign this for me, and it'll be official!"

Nodding, Claire and Bruce did as told, with Bruce holding the pen Chimecho had provided with the tip of his tail. Chimecho picked up the list again and headed back towards Wigglytuff's room.

"The guildmaster gave us the rest of the day off, so you can figure out the specifics tomorrow," Chimecho called as she went inside.

"That's rare," Iris commented. "You know Chatot probably didn't like that too much."

"It's definitely a good thing, though!" Claire grinned again, turning to Bruce. "Hey, let's show you around the guild!"

Bruce looked around eagerly. "All right! I can't wait to get started!"

* * *

"…So we'll just have to wait for Dusknoir to report back." Chatot looked around at the recruits as he concluded his report. "In the meantime, let's get back to our regular work!"

"_Yes, sir_!"

As the guild members left the room to start their usual tasks, Claire turned to Bruce.

"Chatot usually has us look at the job requests listed on the bulletin boards upstairs, so let's—"

"Hey, Team Shadow?"

Diglett popped out of the ground suddenly, cutting off Claire's sentence. He looked over at the sentry grate before continuing, making it fairly obvious what he was going to ask.

"My dad asked me to take the bulletin boards today, so could one of you help Loudred with sentry duty?"

"I will," Rin offered.

"Yeah, you're the best of us at sentry duty," Iris grumbled. "I'm certainly not doing that."

Rin merely rolled her eyes as she walked over to the grate, deciding not to lecture Iris about her poor sentry scores. Diglett nodded before burrowing underground again.

"Thanks, Cubone!"

"Meet me at Spinda's Café when you guys get back, okay?"

"We will!" Claire called.

The rest of Team Shadow headed up the ladder and over to the bulletin boards. Team Lightning was already examining the outlaw board, so Claire walked over to the regular mission board. After scanning it for a few seconds, she pulled down one of the sheets of paper.

"There's an Eevee looking for someone to find her friend Shellder in Craggy Coast," she read. "Does that sound good?"

Everyone nodded, and Claire tucked the request into her treasure bag.

"Okay, let's just make a quick stop to the Kecleon Brothers' shop, and we'll be ready!"

* * *

"That went well!"

Claire cheered as Team Shadow arrived back at the guild with Shellder in tow. They'd managed to find him fairly early into the dungeon, so they'd arrived back at the guild quickly enough. Rin would likely still be doing sentry duty for a little while, but otherwise there was nothing to complain about.

As they entered the guild and headed downstairs, they found Eevee waiting near the bulletin boards. She perked up upon seeing Shellder, bounding over to him.

"I was so worried, Gemma! Thanks so much for finding him. Here you go!"

Eevee handed Claire a pile of coins and an assortment of berries before she and Shellder left the guild. After Claire tucked the payment into her bag, she turned to Felix, Iris, and Bruce.

"Want to go on to the Café?"

"Of course!" Iris grinned. "It's been a while since we last had time to go."

Felix looked a bit apprehensive at Iris's enthusiasm. Upon catching the look, Bruce tilted his head to the side, looking puzzled. Before he could ask anything, Iris was already at the ladder, and Claire hurried after her. Felix and Bruce followed them more slowly, with Bruce ahead of Felix.

Upon arriving at Spinda's Café, Claire noticed that it was unusually crowded. Iris managed to snag a table, and Felix and Bruce sat down with her as Claire went to order drinks. She handed Spinda the appropriate gummis for all five teammates and watched in amusement as he did his usual dance-and-stir routine. He set all the drinks on a tray, and Claire carefully balanced herself as she walked back to Iris's table.

"So," she said, distributing the drinks and leaving room for Rin, "you caught on well today, Bruce."

"My parents always wanted me to be in an exploration team," Bruce explained. "My sisters and I would tag along on their trips sometimes."

Felix looked a bit embarrassed. "Mine did too, but I was too scared to join the guild for a while… Maybe I wouldn't have been if they'd taken me out on explorations…"

"Well, most of the time they'd have to get me out of trouble because I'd get distracted too easily. Today was fun, though, so I hope I get to come on explorations with you guys often!"

"We'll have to see if it's okay with Rin and Iris to swap out with you every once in a while," Claire replied. "I bet they'll always have something for you to do around the guild, though. Sentry duty is actually pretty fun, but… hey, where's Iris?"

It was at that point that the three of them noticed that Iris had disappeared from the table. The fact that she hadn't added anything to the conversation should have tipped them off, in hindsight. Her cup was gone too, so that couldn't have been a good sign…

Claire noticed Iris standing over by Wynaut's prize drawing shop. One of the regular customers, Octillery, was buying a ticket, and Iris had just walked up to her. While the rest of Team Shadow couldn't hear Wynaut, they saw him shaking his head, and Octillery looked disappointment.

Iris took a sip of her drink, then announced rather loudly, "Hey, Octillery… I'll be your big win if you want—"

She was cut off by something suddenly ramming into her head, causing her to drop her drink. The liquid splashed onto the floor as the projectile swerved back to the entrance. Nearly all the Pokémon at the bar looked up to see Rin standing at the entrance; the normally calm Cubone was giving Iris a rather impressive glare.

It became obvious that she'd just used Bonemerang, and she sighed as she walked over to Iris. Rin silently grabbed Iris by the shoulder and dragged her back over to Team Shadow's table, with Iris protesting all the way.

"Come on, Rin! Why do you have to be such a killjoy all the time? I was just having some fun… What are you even doing here?"

"Dugtrio actually got back to work, so Diglett went back to sentry duty and let me leave early," Rin explained, looking more at the rest of the team despite the fact that Iris had spoken. "Thanks for ordering my drink, Claire. How did it go today?"

As Rin took a sip of her drink, Claire giggled at Iris's sulky expression. She then turned back to Rin, launching into an animated discussion of some of the items they'd picked up at Craggy Coast as Bruce excitedly filled in smaller details…

* * *

"Hey, hey! I wish there was some easy way to find out when the great Dusknoir will be back…"

Later that night, many of the guild's recruits had once again piled into the room shared by Bidoof, Loudred, and Corphish. They were discussing the current situation with Crystal Cave, and Corphish had an unusually worried look on his face as he spoke.

"Oof… How long you reckon it'll take for Grovyle to hear the rumors, anyway?" Bidoof wondered.

"Oh, my gosh! You aren't doubting the great Dusknoir's plan, are you?" Sunflora demanded, waving her leaves around in distress.

"Golly, Sunflora! Of course not!"

"You know what would be totally awesome?" Heliona cut in. "If Claire could just get one of her visions _right now_! It would just be like, _'Whoosh! In exactly two days…'_ and then—"

"It doesn't work like that, exactly," Claire interrupted, though she was trying hard not to laugh.

"Is she always like that?" Bruce asked.

"Yes." Sydney rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately."

"Actually, she wasn't quite so hyper before we met you, Sydney," Leon said.

"Great, so it's _my_ fault she's that way?"

"Hey!" Heliona objected.

Chatot suddenly poked his head in the door, though he didn't look angry this time. Lately, he'd been allowing the recruits to have these evening meetings, though he cut them off at whatever time he deemed appropriate. It was usually early, of course, though no one could complain; it was surprising enough that he'd even allowed the meetings at all.

"Get on to bed now! We'll need to be up as early as usual tomorrow to see if there's any news from the great Dusknoir."

"Yes, sir…"

Everyone sighed and reluctantly went to their own rooms as Chatot left. It would likely take them all a long time to fall asleep, even if they'd been allowed to stay up later; the anticipation of any news would keep them up for a while.

Claire forced her eyes shut as she lay down. She was admittedly a bit jealous of the fact that Bruce fell asleep nearly instantly; he was snoring lightly a few seconds later. Rolling over, Claire tried to get herself comfortable, reminding herself that she hated worrying. As she tried to relax, she found herself dozing off…

* * *

"Well, as it stands…" Chatot winced the next morning. "At the moment, I haven't heard anything…"

"Officer Magnezone is here!"

Diglett's voice echoed up through the sentry grate. After a few moments of muffled conversation, Diglett began speaking audibly again.

"Grovyle's been caught! Dusknoir wants us to meet him up at the town square!"

Chatot squawked loudly. "What? Already? Everyone, get out there at once!"

The recruits immediately poured outside, cheering. True, they had just been hoping that Grovyle would be captured soon, but some of them — Heliona in particular — seemed adamant that their discussion somehow helped Dusknoir's plan succeed so quickly.

As they assembled in Treasure Town, many of them jumped at the sight in front of them. A large, dark portal was positioned between Electivire's link shop and Duskull's bank. Officer Magnezone and a few of his Magnemite assistants were hovering a few feet in front of it, preventing the town's residents from getting too close to it. When he saw the guild members approaching, he paused for a minute to explain the situation.

"_Bzzt_! Dusknoir called that a Dimensional Hole," he announced. "He says it will take him and Grovyle back to the future."

"Where's the great Dusknoir now, friendly friend?" Wigglytuff wondered.

"He'll be here shortly," Magnezone answered. "He just came to get the Dimensional Hole ready, and then he went to go get Grovyle. _Bzzt_! Some of Dusknoir's subordinates were escorting Grovyle here."

As if on cue, Dusknoir himself became visible at the edge of the square. He was floating somberly towards them with several Sableye following him. The Sableye formed a circle around Grovyle, and the Grass-Type had his wrists and mouth bound. Behind them were Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf, who were sharing pleased looks.

"My friends," Dusknoir proclaimed. "I bring you Grovyle the thief. I couldn't have done it without the cooperation of the lake guardians… or without your help as well."

The gathered Pokémon applauded, and the mouth on Dusknoir's stomach slanted upwards into a grin. He paused before gesturing towards Grovyle and the Sableye.

"It's time for us to send Grovyle back to the future we came from, where he can properly be punished for his crimes—"

Grovyle shook his head rapidly, the leaf on his head swaying back and forth. He made several muffled sounds, trying to object. One of the Sableye silenced him with a quick slash.

Claire looked at Grovyle rather curiously. He didn't seem angry, as she would have expected; instead, he seemed almost desperate. Grovyle noticed Claire was staring at him, and he met her eyes. Claire's heart raced; Grovyle's eyes were wide, begging her to do something. Not to mention she was getting that distinct feeling that she ought to be remembering something again…

"…and I am just as disappointed as you are that I must return to the future as well!"

Claire's attention snapped back to Dusknoir when she realized he'd been speaking the whole time she'd been looking at Grovyle. All of the other Pokémon had upset looks on their faces, but they perked up as the Sableye started pushing Grovyle towards the Dimensional Hole. Although he struggled, there wasn't much he could do with his claws tied behind his back, so it didn't take long for the Sableye to shove him into the portal. They jumped in after him, and Dusknoir started moving towards it was well.

"Thank you for everything, great Dusknoir!"

"We owe you so much!"

"Oh, there's no need to thank me," Dusknoir replied, turning around. "I truly couldn't have done it without you, and especially not without Team Shadow! May I see you all up here for a moment, please?"

"Should I come up, too?" Bruce asked, looking at Claire in confusion.

"Well, you just joined us, so… I'm not really sure," she answered.

"I guess I'll just stay here, then."

Claire smiled at him before heading over to Dusknoir with Felix, Rin, and Iris. Felix looked quite shaken at the idea of saying goodbye to Dusknoir, and Rin and Iris both wore forlorn expressions as well. Dusknoir swept them closer to him, holding two of them with each arm.

"I-I can't believe this is really goodbye," Felix sniffled.

"Don't be upset… I was telling the truth when I said I could not have done this without you… Which is why this is not goodbye for us!"

Dusknoir suddenly flung himself backwards into the portal, clinging to them more tightly. The last thing Claire heard was the stunned shouting of the town's Pokémon before the spinning portal made her too dizzy to stay conscious.

* * *

Claire awoke to a pounding headache. Shaking her head, she wobbled as she tried to sit up. It took a few seconds for her vision to focus, and she mewed in surprise when she got a clear look of the room she was in; it was completely made of stone, and there were no windows anywhere. The only light came from a few torches in the far distance, and bars covered the only exit. It was clearly a prison of some sort, but why in the world were they there?

Claire shook herself when she noticed Felix stirring next to her. Sitting up groggily, the Chimchar's eyes widened when he got a good look at their cell. He instantly clung to Claire's arm, his breath coming out in ragged gasps.

"W-what happened?" he squeaked. "Where are we?"

"What do _you_ think, Felix?"

On the other side of the room, Iris was already standing up, and Rin was quiet but awake. Iris impatiently walked over to the bars and attempted to loosen the door. It didn't budge, and Iris sat down with a scowl.

"I've been trying that for… I don't know how long."

"You're taking this pretty well…" Claire noted. "I mean, we don't even know where—"

"Well, Dusknoir said he was going to the future, right? That's got to be where we are. Provided he was telling the truth, anyway."

Rin nodded; clearly, they'd been discussing it while Claire and Felix were unconscious. Felix's eyes widened further.

"But why would he take us here? How are we supposed to get back? What if—"

The door rattled open, interrupting Felix. A large group of Sableye was standing there, their eyes reflecting the light from the torches a few of them were holding. One of them stepped forward, giving them a toothy smirk.

"All right, we're not gonna let you make this difficult."

He beckoned to a couple of the others and then tossed them blindfolds. Immediately, Iris tried to strike one of them with a Fire Punch, but she was treated to a Scratch for her trouble. The Sableye she'd attacked forced the blindfold over her face as the others turned to the rest of Team Shadow.

Felix and Rin shuffled backwards as Claire tried to launch off a Thunderbolt. The Sableye were far too quick, however. Two of them jumped on each teammate, tightly securing the blindfolds before they had time to react.

"You're surrounded, so trying to escape would be pointless," the first Sableye went on. "Wheh-heh… Not that you'd be able to figure out how to get out of here, anyway…"

Iris grumbled audibly as the Sableye shoved them along. Claire, on the other hand, remained silent; she was too busy wondering why the place felt familiar… At the moment, it was a pretty vague feeling, but it was there. Again, the fact that she was in the future didn't bother her so much, but rather, the fact she felt like she'd been there before.

After what felt like ages, Claire heard a door slamming shut, and one of the Sableye shoved her into what felt like a column. Another Sableye shoved Felix next to her while a third bound them to the pillar with a rope. She could hear Rin and Iris getting the same treatment a few feet away from them, and after they were secure, the Sableye removed the blindfolds.

The room they were in now was almost as nondescript as the cell they'd just left. The Sableye scurried out as Claire took in their surroundings. There were several other pillars around the room, and it was so large that the back of the room faded into darkness, but it was mostly empty.

After a few moments, Claire noticed a figure near the door. A Misdreavus was lurking there, smirking as she looked from pillar to pillar. As the Ghost-Type's eyes flickered past Claire and Felix, Claire noticed that there was someone bound to the next pillar… Grovyle. He growled at the Misdreavus, and Claire tilted her head to the side in confusion. When she looked back near the door, however, the Misdreavus had vanished.

"Listen, you four," he muttered. "I don't know what you might have done to make Dusknoir angry with you, but—"

"The great Dusknoir would never be angry with us," Felix said weakly, his voice quivering.

"Right. Why else would you be here in the stockades, then?"

"Stockades? So you're saying were going to be… be executed?" Iris demanded.

"Unless I can get you four to cooperate with me."

"No! I'd n-never cooperate with… with a criminal like you, Grovyle!" Felix protested.

"You'd rather die?"

Grovyle's voice had a hint of twisted amusement to it, and Felix started trembling. Meanwhile, an idea was rapidly forming in Claire's mind.

"He'd have the Sableye do it, right?" she asked.

Felix and Rin gasped in surprise. Grovyle looked rather stunned as well, as if he hadn't actually expected any of them to listen to him. He nodded a few moments later, though.

"That's right. You catch on quickly. Their claws are perfect for this kind of thing."

"So… What if we got them to slash the ropes somehow?"

"Even if it's just a bit, that would loosen the ropes enough for us to get out," Iris finished, easily catching Claire's idea.

"That's perfect," Grovyle approved.

As if on cue, the door at the front of the room opened. Dusknoir entered, surrounded by another large group of Sableye. He looked at his five captives silently, then turned to the Sableye and snapped his fingers.

The Sableye darted forward, claws raised. Claire hissed as one of them slashed into her face, feeling blood trickling into her fur.

"H-Hang on," Grovyle growled. "Shift slightly…"

Claire shrunk down, trying to get her head closer to the ropes. The Sableye didn't seem to notice, and as he slashed at Claire again, his claws nicked the top of the rope. He stepped back, inhaling sharply as he realized what he'd done. The one attacking Felix didn't catch his partner's mistake, and he inadvertently cut a portion of the rope as well.

"_Now_!" Grovyle shouted.

Struggling against the ropes, Claire loosened them enough that she could slash at them herself. She and Felix tumbled to the floor as Grovyle, Rin, and Iris managed to untie their ropes as well. The Sableye collectively paused in surprise before slashing at them again.

Claire shot a Thunderbolt at the one in front of her. The rest of the group followed her lead, launching attacks of their own. Dusknoir's voice was vaguely audible in the background, calling for more Sableye.

"Cover your eyes and hold onto each other!"

Grovyle's voice rang out suddenly. Felix grabbed Claire's arm instantly; Rin clung to Iris as the Machop reached over to Claire. Then, Grovyle pulled an orb out of his bag and flung it to the ground, causing a near-blinding light to fill the room.

Claire heard the sound of claws digging into the ground as the Sableye scurried around in confusion. The next thing she knew, the five of them were sitting in a rather large hole, with Grovyle flinging dirt back up over them. The light must have faded immediately afterwards, as she could hear Dusknoir's muffled commands to search for them.

The Sableye's footsteps faded away after several minutes, and once Dusknoir's voice was no longer audible, Grovyle cautiously pulled at the ground above them. Peering back into the room, he gestured to Team Shadow, and they climbed back up after him.

"If you want to get out of here, you're going to have to follow me," he stated. Felix started to protest, but Grovyle cut him off. "We have to be quick about this. We don't have time for disagreements! It's a matter of life or death here."

With that, Grovyle darted towards the still-open doors, and Claire scurried after him, and the rest of the team followed after her. Claire lost track of all the turns they took, too preoccupied with keeping up with Grovyle's fast pace. Felix and Rin were wheezing by the time they reached the final hallway, but they didn't have time to stop.

When they reached the outside, Team Shadow stumbled to a halt. The sky was a dull, dark blue-gray, with no sun in sight, and dark clouds loomed overhead. Twisted trees cast long, sinister shadows while branches and boulders floated in mid-air.

"What… what is this?" Felix choked.

"We've got to get a bit further away before I can explain," Grovyle answered.

"But… I'm so… tired," Felix panted.

"It's just a bit further. Hurry up!"

Claire offered Felix her paw as she followed Grovyle. They reached a small alcove, and Team Shadow instantly sank to the ground. Grovyle carefully peered around the cliff wall before turning back to the others.

"Is this really the future?" Claire asked.

Grovyle merely nodded in response.

"So… why is it like this?" Rin queried.

"I don't think you all trust me enough for me to go into a full explanation," Grovyle responded curtly. "But I will say that it would be pointless to wait until morning to get going. There's no such thing as 'morning' here anymore."

"Wait, are you saying time's stopped here?" Felix tilted his head to the side. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't stolen the Time Gears!"

Grovyle rested his forehead in his claw for a few moments and closed his eyes. When he went on, it was clear he was trying very hard not to snap at Felix.

"Don't tell me you still believe Dusknoir's claims that I'm the villain. He just tried to have you killed, and you really trust him? I only took four Time Gears, and that's not enough for the whole planet to be like this."

"Then what _did_ happen?" Iris demanded.

Grovyle looked them over carefully, as if he was considering telling them. Before he could say anything, Felix stood up shakily and started walking in the direction they'd just come from.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Grovyle shot Felix a glare, causing him to freeze in his tracks. Turning around, Felix answered him nervously.

"I-I'm going to go ask Dusknoir."

Grovyle took a few deep breaths before replying, "Fine. You think that's going to work out? I'm leaving."

As Grovyle turned around, Felix called desperately, "Wait! You're not going to show us the way again?"

He was met with silence as Grovyle dashed away as quickly as ever. Felix sank back down to the ground, shaking again.

"W-what are we supposed to do?" he mumbled.

A heavy silence sank over the team. Claire tugged on the edge of her scarf as she attempted to think of a way to salvage the situation.

"I think we should go after Grovyle," she said quietly.

"What? Why?" Felix cried.

"Well, he did save our lives back there," Claire explained. "And… he probably knows some way to get back. I mean, he came to our time somehow, right?"

Rin and Iris were nodding slowly. They looked a bit reluctant to have to rely on Grovyle, but they likely knew they had few other options. Felix adamantly shook his head, however.

"No way! I can't follow Grovyle. I'm going back there."

"But Felix," Claire tried. "I don't think Dusknoir will listen to us right now."

"He's better than Grovyle—"

He was cut off by a swift Thunderpunch from Iris. Rin quickly reached out and grabbed Felix as he started to tumble over, giving Iris a baffled expression.

"Get yourself together!" Iris snapped. "Listen to your team leader! Right now, Grovyle is our only chance to get back. We don't know anyone here besides him and Dusknoir, and Grovyle _isn't trying to kill us_ at the moment. What part of that do you not get?"

Felix held the side of his face as a large bruise started to form. His breath came out in small huffs, and he nodded slowly, eyes wide.

"All right. Now get up and let's go. Claire? Is that okay?"

Claire nodded silently, a bit surprised at Iris's outburst. Still, she couldn't deny they did need to get moving.

"We can do this. Just stay together, okay?" she said quietly.

The group proceeded in silence, the stifling atmosphere spurring them to walk as quickly as possible.

* * *

_Author's Note x2_: Man, did this chapter require some heavy shortening… And it's still longer than I want it to be. I can't cut too much, though… Oh, and everyone remembers Missy, right? She's the Misdreavus they saw at the stockades.

Also, although the Explorers partner did grow on me, there were some points where he really frustrated me, the future segment being one of them. I can understand being in shock, but there is a very fine line between being shocked and just plain disregarding your own safety. While Iris is a complete goofball most of the time, she still has a sense of duty, so I feel like she would be the one least likely to tolerate Felix refusing to listen to Claire. Thus, if she feels like a punch in the face is necessary, then it's a punch in the face that Felix gets.


	10. Sour Reunion

_Author's Note_: The next few chapters will follow each other a lot more directly than I've been doing. Now, have some of Leaf's point of view while I make some very short references to the game-mechanics logic behind why you can't take teammates to the future.

**Chapter Ten: Sour Reunion**

Leaf found it ridiculously convenient, albeit in a somewhat twisted way, that he'd ended up so close to the Passage of Time.

Granted, he'd have to just hope he'd get even luckier and find Celebi near Dusk Forest. That admittedly made him a bit uncomfortable, as Celebi had already put herself at a big enough risk when she'd sent him back the first time.

Sighing, Leaf turned a corner in Chasm Cave, reminding himself how lucky he'd been to get out of the stockades alive. It was amazing that the exploration team Dusknoir had kidnapped had been willing to cooperate with him — though really, it was mainly Chimchar who refused to listen, he corrected himself. Given how he'd fought them at Crystal Cave, Leaf hadn't expected _any_ of them to follow his lead, though.

As he exited the dungeon, Leaf frowned to himself, another thought crossing his mind. He'd started to mention it briefly to Meowth herself earlier, but the fact that Dusknoir had brought them to the stockade at all was baffling. As far as he knew, they were just normal explorers, and Chimchar especially seemed to completely trust Dusknoir's lies…

Leaf shook his head as he approached Dark Hill. He ought to have known not to let himself get distracted. Yes, the situation was unfortunate, but he had a bigger picture to look at.

He'd gotten so used to being able to camouflage himself easily in the past world that it made travel through Dark Hill quite difficult — not that Chasm Cave had been much easier. Dark Hill was a long uphill climb riddled with Ghost-Types, as if to remind him of the Pokémon he was running from. Leaf instinctively growled at every Misdreavus he passed; Missy's presence at the stockade was still unnerving him.

That had probably been the point, Leaf thought sourly; Missy had likely just wanted to bother him in what she thought would be his last few moments.

Nonetheless, Leaf forced himself to focus on getting to Celebi. He had to get back to her and go do things _correctly_ this time. It was bad enough he'd messed up this badly already; now he especially had to hurry. Perhaps now that he had some experience with the past world, he'd at least be able to figure out some quicker routes to the Time Gears.

Leaf managed to feed himself such thoughts as he reached the Sealed Ruin. Given its proximity to Dusk Forest, he'd been close to the ruins a few times, though he'd certainly never traversed them… And he hadn't heard a single good rumor about the place. It was the fastest route to the forest, so Leaf would just have to deal with it. Gritting his teeth, Leaf darted through the ruin's entrance, keeping a close eye on his surroundings.

The one positive was that the cracked floors and large piles of rubble made for good hiding places when necessary. Leaf hated having to waste time hiding on occasion, but it was that or waste even more time scuffling with the old temple's residents.

When he reached the final chamber, Leaf breathed a sigh of relief and strode towards the exit. He paused halfway there; he swore he'd heard something… It wasn't just the atmosphere playing tricks on him either, he was sure of it. After a moment, he heard it again, a rather distinctive hissing sound.

There was someone else there.

Tensing, Leaf hurried towards the exit, hoping he hadn't been spotted. Before he could leave, a voice echoed out through the room.

"_Trespasser_… _We KNOW you're there_…"

"I'm not trespassing — I just need to get through here!"

Leaf edged closer to the exit, looking around wildly. As much as he wanted to leave, he didn't like the idea of something he couldn't see following him… Especially when it sounded like there was more than one Pokémon speaking.

"_No… You LIE to us, trespasser_!"

Leaf growled in frustration. "Please, I do not wish to fight with you! Just let me leave!"

Suddenly, a large, green and purple face sprung up in front of him. Leaf scrambled backwards, barely biting back a yelp of surprise. A Spiritomb, of course — Leaf berated himself for not noticing the Odd Keystone base earlier, despite the room being filled with just as much rubble as the rest of the temple.

As Leaf tried to roll aside, the Spiritomb jumped towards him. The Odd Keystone dragged along several inches behind it, causing an eerie scraping sound. Leaf winced, and as he paused, he was suddenly slammed to the ground as a loud gust of wind blew through the area—Spiritomb had probably just cast Ominous Wind, Leaf realized belatedly. He then choked as something rushed into his mouth and nose, and his limbs started to grow heavy.

"_Don't bother moving, TRESPASSER… You will PAY for disturbing us…_"

Spiritomb's voices echoed as it retreated. The Odd Keystone scraped across the floor again, as if to mock him.

Grunting, Leaf attempted to move his arm, and a sharp pain shot through it. He winced and attempted to turn his head to the side, managing to just barely have a view of the chamber before it hurt too much to move further. He caught a brief glance of Spiritomb's face before it vanished into the Odd Keystone, and it seemed to be smirking at him.

Leaf sighed, silently scolding himself again. He should have just run instead of trying to check the area… He should have known better than to assume that one of the future's Pokémon would actually listen to him. Leaf had gotten too used to the past, or rather, how things had been before he'd become a wanted criminal there; he'd expected Spiritomb to actually listen to him instead of realizing its reasoning had likely been lost to the darkness.

And now, he just had to lie there and hope Spiritomb would grow bored with him before the Sableye caught up. Slow as they were, they did have decent tracking abilities; how long could Leaf last here?

After what seemed like an eternity, Leaf thought he heard voices again, and he lifted his head eagerly. Before he could see who was entering, Spiritomb slammed his face back into the ground, and Leaf hissed in pain. The voices were getting closer, however, and they seemed awfully familiar…

"We've got to catch up with him soon. I mean, the path was pretty much straight…"

"He was pretty far ahead of us, though — whoa!"

The team of four had conveniently just arrived, and they'd clearly noticed Leaf. Spiritomb's hissing echoed through the chamber, and Leaf could hear them shuffling around nervously. Still, one set of footsteps seemed to be coming towards him — Meowth's, he thought — and he managed to lift his head up just enough to speak.

"Keep… keep going," he grunted.

"And just leave you here?" Meowth's voice was bewildered. "We can't—"

She yowled suddenly, and Leaf assumed the Spiritomb had startled her. Managing to turn very slightly again, he saw that Spiritomb was right in front of Meowth, and the face had risen out of the Odd Keystone. The four new arrivals immediately split into pairs as the face leered at them.

"_Trespassers… You will REGRET invading OUR territory_!"

Spiritomb wasted no time summoning another Ominous Wind. While Chimchar, Cubone, and Machop were all blown backwards, Meowth merely grimaced and braced herself, pushing forward with a bit of effort. Leaf couldn't help grinning; the Normal-Type would have quite an advantage here.

Meowth's whiskers twitched as she shot a Thunderbolt directly at the Odd Keystone. As Spiritomb howled in pain, Meowth's three teammates pulled themselves to their feet, shooting her relieved looks.

While Leaf had noticed it to some extent during their fight at Crystal Cave, he now realized even more how well coordinated they were. Despite traveling in a group of four, they didn't slow each other down; their pairing tactic was simple yet effective. Cubone and Chimchar launched repeated Bonemerang and Flamethrower attacks, stunning Spiritomb from a distance, which allowed Machop and Meowth to move in with closer-ranged attacks.

Leaf watched in amusement as Machop fired off a series of overly-enthusiastic elemental punches. She compensated well for what could have been a huge disadvantage, and she was quite willing to step back and allow Meowth to use the occasional Night Slash for the sake of throwing Spiritomb off.

Despite Spiritomb's valiant attempts at attacking back, facing four opponents was clearly something it was unprepared for. It had been fairly easy for Spiritomb to overpower Leaf by himself, but it was taking too much damage too quickly to do the same to the exploration team. Finally, after one too many direct attacks to the keystone, Spiritomb let out a frustrated shriek and fled.

The face retreated into the keystone again, and Leaf felt an odd rushing feeling in the back of his head as Spiritomb leapt away. Slowly, feeling returned to his limbs, and he managed to force himself into a sitting position as Meowth tentatively approached him.

"So… what happened?" she questioned.

"What exactly did you do to make that Spiritomb so angry?" Machop added.

"Nothing," Leaf grunted, wobbling as he tried to stand up. "You saw how quickly it attacked you. Most Pokémon are like that here."

"Like what?" Chimchar blinked in confusion.

"Driven crazy by the darkness and tension," Leaf answered simply, lurching as he tried to take a few steps. "Look, we need to get out of here before I can explain further. Did you run into any Sableye on the way here?"

Cubone shook her head, and Leaf sighed in relief. As he attempted to move forward again, he felt a paw on his arm, and he looked down to see Meowth trying to steady him. Leaf was admittedly surprised, though he wasn't entirely sure why.

"You really shouldn't be walking right now," she observed, "but we do need to get moving. I don't mind helping you walk. It could be kind of fun, don't you think? Like a three-legged race!"

Leaf gave her a bewildered look as her teammates chuckled. Had Meowth honestly tried to pull a joke despite the situation? Nevertheless, he nodded and leaned down to let her support him.

He couldn't help thinking that it was exactly like something Claire would say, either. Yet again, the Meowth had done something to remind him of her… Leaf tried to shake the worry out of his mind as the group slowly exited the ruins.

They trudged in silence for a short time until Meowth suddenly stopped and squinted. She then gestured towards something she saw up ahead.

"I think there's a small alcove in those boulders up there," she said excitedly. "We can stop there and let you rest for a minute."

Cubone cocked her head to the side, wearing a confused look. "This whole time, you've been spotting things so easily…"

Meowth merely shrugged in response, trying not to let Leaf fall over at the same time. In all honesty, he was just as confused as her teammates were; true, her species tended to have good vision in the darkness, but it was a bit odd for one who was supposedly a resident of the past world.

Leaf was grateful when they reached the small area, and Meowth peered back around the boulders after letting him down gently. After a few moments, she seemed confident that there were no Sableye around, and Meowth eagerly sat down next to Chimchar and gave Leaf an expectant look.

"So… While we're waiting, can you tell us what's going on here?"

He paused, looking the group over carefully before responding, "You're willing to listen?"

Meowth, Machop, and Cubone all nodded in succession. Then, they turned to Chimchar, who was shifting rather uncomfortably. He looked nervously between his teammates and Leaf, biting his lip.

"Well, Felix?" Machop said dryly.

"Y-yes," he mumbled.

Leaf sighed. "All right. You probably want to know what I needed the Time Gears for." They nodded again, and he went on. "They're supposed to be able to prevent the planet's paralysis."

"Prevent it?" Machop repeated. "Okay, not saying I don't believe you, but time does stop in the area when a gear is removed, so…"

Frowning, Leaf paused before he answered. He'd expected Chimchar — Felix, he corrected himself — to be the one doing any interjections. At least Machop seemed curious rather than outright doubting him, however…

"Well, yes, that's right," he admitted. "That's a temporary thing, though. The gears are meant to be taken to Temporal Tower, and once they're there, the flow of time is fixed. It's the collapse of the tower that caused the paralysis in the first place."

"But taking Time Gears _does_ stop time?" Felix queried.

Leaf kneaded his forehead for a moment before replying. "Look, as I said before, I only had four of them. There are many more than that, so taking the necessary amount to the tower wouldn't inadvertently cause a paralysis in itself."

"So… What is this 'Temporal Tower' place, anyway?" Meowth puzzled. "If it collapsing can cause the planet to become paralyzed, but the Time Gears are what keeps time flowing properly… then what's the tower for?"

"You're close — it's the reverse of that," Leaf corrected. "It's Temporal Tower that controls the flow of time. The gears only work in their immediate areas, and they're meant to fix the tower in case of collapse… which it did back in your time."

"Well, that's a bit confusing, but it makes more sense than before…" Machop folded her arms, looking to the side. "Anyway, what you're basically saying is that you came back to get the gears so you could fix Temporal Tower."

Leaf nodded. "I'd love to tell you that Primal Dialga could just fix it himself, but—"

"_Primal_ Dialga?" Cubone had been silent for a while, but here she finally cut in. "I've heard stories about a Pokémon called Dialga, but not Primal Dialga."

Machop and Felix nodded in agreement. On the other hand, Meowth had a very curious look on her face, as if she'd just been reminded of something. When she caught Leaf staring at her, she merely shook her head in embarrassment.

"Right, well, once the tower collapsed, Dialga wasn't exactly in the best shape, mentally or physically," Leaf noted. "That's why he's been unable to fix the tower, I'm assuming; the lack of a proper flow of time has thrown him into such a state that all he cares about is self-preservation."

"So that's where the 'primal' part comes from," Machop muttered darkly. "And if you came back to fix things, then what about Dusknoir?"

"That's not too hard to put together, is it?" Leaf shrugged. "You already know he was trying to stop me. He's one of Primal Dialga's agents, and he's working to keep this place as is."

"So — so you're saying he—" Felix stammered.

"He was working for Primal Dialga all along, yes," Leaf finished.

Meowth put a paw on Felix's shoulder as she shared a somber look with her two other teammates. After a short pause, she looked back at Leaf.

"That all makes sense, but the other thing we've been wondering is… well, how did you even get back to the past in the first place?"

Leaf paused. They'd heard him out, and they even seemed to believe him, even if Felix still looked scared of him. Despite his previous annoyance with them, they'd made progress, and they certainly didn't deserve to be stuck in the future. It was safe to tell them, he concluded.

"You've heard of a Pokémon called Celebi, haven't you? She sent me back."

The four of them nodded, though Meowth once again had a strange look on her face. Deciding to brush it off, Leaf slowly raised a claw to the rock wall beside him and pushed himself up. After he took a few careful steps, the team caught his lead and scrambled up to their feet as well.

"We should get going, then," he continued. "We need to reach Celebi as soon as possible so the Sableye don't find her."

"You're sure she's around here?" Machop raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" Leaf shook his head, trying to deflect the worries that had suddenly sprung to mind. "The passage she used to send me back isn't too much further. It's likely she'll be there."

Fortunately, Machop accepted that explanation with no further questions, and the group of five set out. They proceeded mostly in silence, which Leaf was grateful for; the less attention they attracted, the better.

Apart from Felix's constant glances over his shoulder, they also managed to keep up with him fairly well. Leaf was admittedly surprised, but assumed their quick adaptation was a byproduct of all the exploring they did. Given that the trip to Dusk Forest was fairly long, he counted himself lucky that they wouldn't have to slow down.

However, another action of Meowth's caught his attention after a short distance. Leaf wasn't sure if she'd been doing it the whole time, or if he just hadn't noticed, but Meowth was shuffling her paws as she walked. She was apparently doing it unconsciously, as she blinked at him when she caught him staring.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"N-nothing," Leaf deflected. "That's actually a good idea. It'll make it harder for the Sableye to tell we've been here."

"Oh! That's true," Machop exclaimed as Cubone nodded beside her. "They'll know _someone_ was here, but they won't know it was _us_ if they can't see our footprints clearly, right?"

Leaf merely nodded, glad they'd accepted that explanation; it gave him time to puzzle over Meowth again. True, she did appear to be the team leader, so it was possible she just thought quickly enough to come up with that on her own… But it was yet another minor detail that reminded him of Claire.

'_I'm getting distracted,'_ Leaf silently reprimanded.

Nevertheless, it struck him as strange that he thought of Claire so often when he saw Meowth. Her species, the fact she seemed fond of Thunderbolt, her general attitude… They could be coincidences, Leaf tried to insist, but put together, they seemed to have some kind of deeper meaning.

Leaf shook his head, realizing his musings had carried him all the way to Dusk Forest's entrance. The team behind him was panting quite audibly, and he turned around to see that they looked just as tired as they sounded.

"We can rest here for a bit, but we can't dawdle," he said tersely. "I'll keep watch."

Leaf settled a few feet away from them as they gathered near the thick cluster of bent trees. His eyes narrowed instinctively as he checked the surroundings. True, he hadn't heard anything suspicious on the way, but the Sableye could blend into the shadows well.

He glanced over his shoulder when he realized his four "companions" were chattering amongst themselves. No doubt they were trying to decide whether or not following him was a good idea — or possibly, still trying to convince Felix.

Leaf appreciated their cooperation, but he did wish they would be just a bit quieter. While they were at least quiet enough that he couldn't make out what they were saying, they'd be audible if anyone were to listen closely enough.

Sighing, Leaf stood back up and started to walk over to them, nearly jumping when he saw Meowth was already standing. The other three rose as well, and Meowth looked surprised when she saw Leaf walking towards her.

"Are we almost there?" she queried.

Leaf nodded. "Just keep following me. It's not much further."

They lapsed into silence again as they followed him, dodging tree branches as they temporarily walked single-file. The path fortunately widened out shortly, and they were able to spread out afterwards.

While Leaf had admired the team's ability to work together, he realized there was one disadvantage to traveling with such a large group. Going through Dusk Forest had been comparatively easy when Celebi had taken him, Claire, and Andrew through it before, yet traveling in a group of five instead of four was surprisingly much more difficult. It wasn't that they were lagging behind, but rather, the group was much more noticeable now, and the forest's residents seemed much more aggressive than they had before.

Fortunately, they fended off their opponents well, but progress was quite slow at times. Machop in particular had a knack for attracting trouble, even if she seemed to be the physically strongest of the team, and she was disadvantaged against many of Dusk Forest's inhabitants. In particular, swarms of Mothim descended on her the instant she so much as stepped on a twig, which was always followed by Cubone spitting out Ice Beams faster than Leaf could track.

"Iris, you have to be more careful," Cubone scolded as they got closer to Dusk Forest's clearing; she'd taken the words out of Leaf's mouth.

"Well, _sorry_, Rin," Iris grumbled.

"Here we are," Leaf called moments later, ducking under a few particularly dense trees.

As the team tumbled after him, Leaf carefully observed the surroundings. Luckily, there weren't any signs that the Sableye had reached the clearing yet, but Celebi didn't seem to be around either…

"Celebi?" he said cautiously.

For a few seconds, there was silence. Then, there was a quick fluttering sound, and Celebi materialized in front of him. A small, disappointed smile spread over her face as she drifted down to him.

"So, you had some trouble, then?" she murmured, tapping him on the head teasingly.

Leaf stepped backwards, looking up at her with a grim expression. "Clearly. It probably wouldn't surprise you to hear Dusknoir followed us back, would it?"

"That _is_ a problem…" Celebi sighed. "I can see how — wait. You're alone, my dear?"

"I'll explain later," Leaf replied hastily. While there probably wouldn't be time to explain, he didn't want to say too much in front of his current charges. "Right now, we just really need to get back…"

"Of course." Celebi nodded. "I don't think your friends here want to stick around for much longer!"

The time-travel Pokémon giggled and flew over to the team as Leaf sighed. He wasn't quite sure he'd call them "friends" — for the moment, anyway — but at least Celebi seemed to be getting on focus. He vaguely heard her introducing herself to them, and he spun around in confusion when Celebi gasped quite loudly.

From the looks of things, she'd been about to fly back to the lead, but Celebi had stopped and turned back around abruptly. She was currently looking down at Meowth with a curious, wide-eyed expression. Meowth looked up at Celebi, equally confused.

"Is something wrong?"

"Your eyes look just like hers…" Celebi muttered. Fortunately, however, Meowth didn't seem to catch it, and Celebi raised her voice and replied, "It's nothing, dear! Come along; we'll get to the Passage of Time soon."

"Passage of Time?" Meowth repeated.

Celebi gestured to them before speaking again, and they quickly fell into a travel formation. After they'd headed through some of the trees in the thick entrance of Dusk Forest, Celebi gave them a brief explanation.

"Oh, it's what I have to use for long trips through time," she said quickly. "It would be nice if it was a bit further from Temporal Tower, but it's the best we can do."

She then took the lead, and Meowth very willingly let Celebi go in front of her. Again, they fortunately realized they had to hurry, in no small part thanks to the fact that there were six of them now; it would be foolish to dawdle in such a large group. Leaf managed to bite back his irritation at that fact, knowing it was hardly their fault.

Surprisingly, the team's position shifted slightly as they slowly wove through the forest. Iris was busily trying to flirt with Celebi, it seemed, and thus was near the front. Celebi, for her part, was trying her best to ignore Iris and keep her pace up. Meowth was right behind them, with Felix practically attached to her shoulder. That left Rin walking near Leaf, and the Cubone quietly took in her surroundings as she trailed along.

Leaf realized with some annoyance that they weren't exactly inconspicuous; the situation wasn't helped by how loud Iris was being. Fortunately, the one good thing about the size of the group was that while they attracted a good deal of attention, their numbers meant that they fended off the forest's inhabitants fairly quickly. Still, after one Aggron too many, Leaf began to wonder exactly how much longer it would take them to reach the Passage of Time.

Between skirmishes, Leaf couldn't help letting his mind wander to what Celebi had said about Meowth earlier. So she'd noticed a similarity to Claire, too… It had to be a coincidence, yet there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. It occurred to him that he hadn't heard Meowth's name yet, but on the other hand, he was likely over-thinking the situation…

"You've been staring at her this whole time…"

Leaf jumped when he heard Rin muttering next to him. She gestured towards Meowth with her bone, and Leaf bit his tongue. Had he really been staring? He was starting to feel ridiculous.

"I, ah… It's nothing. She just reminds me of someone."

Rin shrugged. "Is that all? You were staring earlier, too."

Then, she looked away, and Leaf growled quietly. She was perceptive, but why was he letting himself get so worked up over it?

Thankfully, Celebi soon called out, "Oh! We're here!"

They arrived on the plateau on the edge of the forest, and Leaf and Celebi diverted their eyes from the bright light of the passage. The four teammates, however, looked at it in awe until it made their eyes water, and they shared a sheepish look as Celebi eagerly started to flutter towards it.

"Don't you worry, dears," she started. "It's quite simple to use, really—"

"That will do."

Celebi froze as the familiar voice echoed through the dead air. Dusknoir moved out of the shadows to the side of the Passage of Time, seeming to materialize out of nowhere, and a few Sableye were at his side. As the group shrank back, several more Sableye scurried out of the forest path behind them; they were completely surrounded.

Felix clung to Meowth again as they looked around, and the group instinctively turned back-to-back. Grovyle bristled as he positioned himself between Meowth and Celebi, glaring at Dusknoir; the Ghost-Type had his arms folded and wore an irritatingly smug look on his face.

"This has gone on for quite long enough, wouldn't you agree?" Dusknoir went on. "You won't escape me again."

"I don't know how you managed to track us all the way here, but there's one thing you're forgetting, my dear," Celebi twittered. "It doesn't matter! As long as they're with me, they can't be captured!"

"Is that so?" Dusknoir merely sounded bored. "It's time to end these fantasies of yours, Celebi. You, in particular, must learn that those who try to alter history have no place in it."

"W-what does that even mean?" Iris snapped, shifting into a fighting stance.

She got nothing for her question except for a cold chuckle. On the other hand, the Sableye seemed to be getting antsy; several of them were just as poised for a battle as Iris was. It had been clear already that they'd have to fight their way to the Passage of Time, and now it was just getting even more obvious.

Leaf glanced over his shoulder at the team behind him. No doubt they wouldn't have too much trouble with the Sableye, at least if they stuck together like they always did… Celebi would have to focus on protecting the passage… So he'd have to deal with Dusknoir, it seemed.

"Does that really matter?" Dusknoir finally replied. "It's time for you to be eliminated."

"Run for the Passage of Time," Leaf hissed to Meowth. "I'll distract him and be right behind you. Celebi, hurry and open it properly for them."

Celebi and Meowth nodded. Raising his voice, Leaf stepped forward, preparing to strike.

"I don't think so, Dusknoir."

"Oh? I do hate to break this to you, but you don't give me near enough credit, Grovyle! Did you really think I came here with just the Sableye?"

The mouth on Dusknoir's stomach curled upwards into a smirk as a loud roar suddenly tore through the area. A pair of glowing red eyes was suddenly visible on the plateau behind the passage, and its light illuminated the form behind it. The ground shook as the massive form stepped forward, and another roar echoed out.

"What's—" Meowth started.

"P-Primal Dialga?!" Celebi cried. "Dusknoir, you—"

"_That's_ Primal Dialga?" Felix's eyes widened. "What… what should we do?"

For several long moments, the only audible sound was the cackling of the Sableye. Leaf bit his tongue, wondering why he hadn't expected this. But even if he had predicted Dusknoir would find them and take Dialga along, what could he have done about it? Celebi's eyes had widened; she seemed just as blank on ideas as he did, and she was merely shaking her head in silence.

"I don't think there's anything we _can_ do," Leaf muttered.

"We're just giving up?" Felix's voice quivered.

"Look, I'm sorry you four had to be dragged into this, but…" A thought suddenly flashed through Leaf's mind, and he smirked as he faced Dusknoir again. "Wait! Dusknoir, you ought to know this doesn't finish anything! I wasn't alone when I went back in time, you know."

A glimmer of hope suddenly flashed through Celebi's eyes. "That's right! Your partner is still back there in the past, isn't she?"

"Did you really assume I didn't think of that?" There was a hint of twisted amusement in Dusknoir's voice. "Did you not once stop to wonder why I dragged Team Shadow here?"

Leaf frowned, turning to look at the four again. To their credit, they looked just as bewildered as he felt.

"Yes, I did wonder about that," Leaf replied. "You're actually going to fill us in?"

The smirk on Dusknoir's stomach deepened. "Ah, well… I at least wanted to give you the comfort of dying together with your partner. Isn't that right… Claire?"

"What are you talking about?"

Leaf and Meowth blurted out their question at the same time. Meowth's eyes were wide, fear and confusion plainly plastered on her face, and Leaf felt his heartbeat speed up. Why hadn't he asked her name before? Her earlier uses of Thunderbolt, her familiar eyes, the bits of her personality that he'd seen — and now her name.

Leaf mentally slapped himself, however. There was a more important point that he'd let himself miss.

"You know as well as I do that my partner is a human, Dusknoir!"

"I-I am." The cat Pokémon's voice cracked. "Or at least, I was — I don't remember much else, but…"

Leaf's breathing sped up as he looked at her. "But how? Why—"

Dusknoir's cold laughter cut him off. "You may deny it all you like, but that Meowth standing beside you is in fact your partner. Oh, it threw me off initially as well; I wondered why I'd heard nothing about a human traveling around the area when I was in the past.

"Then, I happened to stop by the Wigglytuff Guild, and there you were, Claire! Of course, I had no idea of your identity initially, and you had no memories of your past. But it was right after you told me your name that the guild received the news of the name of thief stealing the Time Gears. I found the two of you at the exact same time!

"All that was left was to find out which Time Gears Grovyle had already stolen and set some kind of trap at one he hadn't gotten yet. The lake trio, the guild, and yes, even you, Claire, were all quite willing to set my plan into motion."

Leaf flinched; his mistake at Crystal Lake sounded so much worse coming from Dusknoir. It certainly didn't help that the fact that he'd seen Claire numerous times around the town square and had no idea it was her was still sinking in. And now, the last bit of hope he'd had was completely quashed.

Claire was wildly looking back and forth between Leaf and Dusknoir. She seemed even more shocked than he did, and her three teammates had uncertainty showing in their eyes. Leaf didn't blame them; Claire's past had to be hitting them pretty hard.

"So, you see, Grovyle, you _have_ failed. And now, all these games you've been trying to play with me are over. You will all be eliminated here and now!"

The Sableye rushed towards them with no further prompting. Their cackling increased in volume as they raised their claws, rising to an unearthly shrieking sound. The group of six packed themselves together more tightly, clinging together hopelessly as the Sableye descended on them.

Somehow, over the din, one voice was audible. Of all of them, it was Felix's, much to Leaf's surprise.

"Grovyle! Claire! Do something!" he pleaded.

Claire's face had now gone blank with shock, and Leaf wasn't exactly thinking quickly at the moment either.

"There's nothing we can do," he muttered.

"Celebi…" Felix's eyes shot towards her as he spoke. "Isn't there anything _you_ can do?"

"I could try sending us a few seconds ahead in time, but Primal Dialga would notice it, and—"

"Just try it!"

Felix's voice was now nearly hysterical, and the Sableye had completely closed in on them. Resolutely, Celebi fluttered to the center of the group; she looked a bit reluctant, but they had no other choice.

"Everyone, hang onto me!"

Immediately after reaching out to Celebi, Leaf felt the familiar rush of time traveling course through him. For a moment, the plateau blurred around him, and he could see the vague shapes of Dusknoir and the Sableye running around in confusion. Soon, however, there was a sudden crushing feeling and a loud shattering sound, followed by Primal Dialga's roar.

They collapsed in a heap right in front of the Passage of Time, and Celebi was panting in exhaustion. Dusknoir whirled around, gesturing towards them wildly.

"I knew Dialga would shatter our path," Celebi groaned. "Hurry, dears! Go!"

"But what about you?" Felix queried.

"Don't worry about me, just go!" Celebi urged.

"There — don't let them get through—"

Dusknoir's commands were barely audible over the Sableye's shouting as Celebi ushered the group forward. She pushed them into the light one by one, and she gave a resigned smile as she looked at Claire and Leaf. Instinctively, Leaf reached out and grabbed Claire by the arm, and Celebi shoved the two forward together.

Then, all Leaf could see was the bright blue light of the passage. As they spun though it, Claire clung to him; whether she subconsciously remembered their last trip or if she was just scared was something he'd have to find out later. Still, Leaf automatically tightened his grip on her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him.

"I'm not going to lose you again, Claire."

With that, Leaf's consciousness started to slip from his dizziness, and the last thing he felt before passing out was Claire's ever-tightening grip.

* * *

_Author's Note x2_: Well, I definitely just set a new record on taking forever to get a chapter written. However, fortunately I'm on winter break now, and I've got a good month off from university, so hopefully I should be able to get back on some kind of updating schedule.

Now, as for this chapter, I definitely had a bit of fun with Iris (again), though Celebi proved herself difficult. She turned out all right, I guess, but I feel like I have trouble doing her character justice. Ah well… I have some fun things planned for next chapter, at least. Also, if all goes according to plan, then I am now over halfway done with this fic. Crazy stuff.


	11. Memories

_Author's Note_: Two points of view for the price of one in this chapter! And there's back-story, too! This story needed a "breather" chapter, so here it is.

**Chapter Eleven: Memories**

Claire was vaguely aware that she was purring contentedly as she rolled over. She was lying on something soft, and the wind was gently ruffling her fur.

_Wind_?

After jolting up, Claire pressed a paw to her forehead in an attempt to quell her dizziness. As her vision focused, it became clear that she was sitting on the beach near Treasure Town — the very same one where she'd first met Felix.

The Chimchar was currently sitting a few feet away from her. He and Rin had woken up already, and the two of them were idly watching the sunset. Iris was stirring nearby, and Claire turned around to see Grovyle lying behind her. She realized with a bit of embarrassment that her head must have been resting on his stomach.

He and Iris sat up near-simultaneously, and Iris groaned as she rubbed her eyes. Rin and Felix turned around at the sound, scampering over to the other three upon realizing they'd all gotten up.

"Oh! I'm glad you guys are up now…" Felix sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "Well, it hasn't been too long, but…"

"Where is this?" Grovyle queried.

"We're not too far from the guild," Claire explained. "This is actually where I woke up after… after what would have been our first trip, I guess."

She gave Grovyle an uncertain look; it was still sinking in that the two of them had been partners. In turn, he gave her a somewhat pitying look before nodding.

There was a moment of silence, interrupted only after Iris folded her arms and got a cross look on her face.

"You know, speaking of the guild… I bet we can't go back there right now, huh?"

"What? Oh… right." Rin awkwardly looked over at Grovyle. "I'd love to go, but…"

Grovyle winced. "I apologize, but… Is there any place we could go instead? We shouldn't stay out here in the open for much longer."

"Um… I know a good place," Felix mumbled. He awkwardly shifted from foot to foot instead of looking excited, however. "It's past Treasure Town, though, on Sharpedo Bluff."

"Well, it _is_ getting late…" Grovyle briefly cast his eyes over towards the sunset. "There will probably be fewer Pokémon around, so it'll be easier to sneak through Treasure Town. I've got a bit of experience with that."

He promptly started walking towards the path leading back to Treasure Town. Hesitantly, Team Shadow followed him, all casting nervous glances to each other. It felt so strange having to sneak around in a place they were actually well-liked, Claire mused.

"The guild's recruits have usually finished up any errands by now—" Grovyle cut himself off, shaking his head. "Though you probably already knew that."

Claire nodded. "So the crossroads should be safe for now?"

Grovyle nodded back as they approached the area. He cautiously peered around a nearby tree, and then darted towards the road closer to the guild. After they scampered over to him, Grovyle explained quietly as he started moving forward slowly.

"It would probably be safer to try to reach the bluff from this side of town." He paused, giving Felix a brief look. "You might want to put out your tail flame."

Felix nodded nervously and did as told. As everyone else had, he quickly caught the unspoken implication that his tail flame would have stood out easily amidst all the shrubbery.

While there were more shops on the northern edge of town, Grovyle's assumption had fortunately been correct. There were consequently more places for them to hide behind, and there were more bushes and other plants to stop and rest under. While there were always at least a few Pokémon out in Treasure Town in the evening, as long as they crept by one by one and kept low, they could get through without notice.

They ran into a bit of a close call after diving behind Kangaskhan's storage. There was an unfortunately long line; although it made sense, as many teams had items they needed to deposit after a day's exploration, it also meant they had a greater chance of being spotted. On top of that, the team currently in the front of the line seemed to have a particularly large amount of items to deposit.

Fortunately, one of the pair, a Clefairy, pulled the last few berries out of her bag and laid them on the counter. As Kangaskhan picked them up, Grovyle quickly turned to Team Shadow.

"All right, as soon as they leave — start running as soon as they turn around!"

Clefairy and her Jigglypuff partner waved goodbye to Kangaskhan, and the team behind them started fumbling through their treasure bags as they walked forward. Taking advantage of the precious few seconds when none of them were paying attention, Team Shadow scurried after Grovyle.

They breathed a collective sigh of relief upon arriving on the bluff. The sunset had started to fade a bit, alerting them of the fact the trip had taken a bit longer than they'd expected. After looking over his shoulder for a moment, Felix cautiously approached the large bush in the bluff's center.

"So, what exactly are you looking for?" Iris questioned, folding her arms.

Biting his lip, Felix wordlessly tugged at the corner of the bush, revealing the plant to actually be a hollowed net. A large set of stairs plunged into the ground, and Claire felt her eyes widen.

"We've been here so many times and you never mentioned that," she said, letting a grin creep onto her face.

"Well, um, let's go inside and I'll explain a bit," Felix mumbled.

He scampered down the steps, and he was closely followed by the rest of the group. The bluff's "mouth" was quickly revealed to be a fairly large cavern, with a messily constructed bed of hay and a few other very basic necessities. As everyone settled down, Felix scratched the back of his neck sheepishly as he looked at everyone.

"This is where I used to live before I joined the guild," he explained.

"I can't imagine you being comfortable living right over the ocean." Iris rolled her eyes. "What did you do when it rains?"

"Well, I haven't been here very long," Felix mumbled. "So it didn't matter too many times…"

Rin proceeded to give Iris a warning look after that, and the Machop decided to drop the topic. There was a short pause afterward, during which Claire felt her eyes tug towards Grovyle. He caught her gaze, and he shook his head as a very small smile formed on his face.

"I worried about you often while I was traveling, Claire. I'm glad you found a good group," he said absently.

"They are pretty great, huh?" She grinned, and then paused. "Speaking of that… how did _we_ meet?"

Grovyle's expression was almost wistful, and Claire had to admit she was surprised to see the look cross his face. Even when they'd been working together to get back to the past, he'd barely looked at them with anything more than a neutral expression.

"You found my egg, and your family essentially adopted me after that."

"So… we were pretty close, then? Knowing that, it's kind of weird just calling you 'Grovyle'…" Claire laughed.

"I suppose it would be. You named me Leaf."

Claire's eyes drifted to the leaves on his wrists and head. Iris burst into laughter, and Claire couldn't help giggling herself. Rin seemed to be trying hard not to laugh, but politely managed to hold it back, though Felix just had an awkward look on his face.

"I wasn't very creative, was I?" Claire grinned.

"Well, I was only a Treecko then… Though you were only about two years old at the time," Leaf added. "And you used that in your defense fairly often. And to answer your other question, yes, we were. You needed me for your Dimensional Scream ability to activate, since it requires you to have a trusted partner around—"

"But she had one just a few days after we met!" Felix cut in, looking mortified.

"Why does that embarrass you?" Leaf queried, quirking an eyebrow. "Is Claire not important to you as well?"

"Well, yes, but…" Felix trailed off.

There was a short silence, during which Rin and Iris had puzzled looks on their faces. Before Claire could ask what they were wondering, Rin piped up.

"They're called 'Dimensional Screams'? You never told us that…" she commented.

"Oh, yeah… You guys went straight back to the guild after we helped Marill and Azurill, right? So you didn't hear Dusknoir call it that," Claire explained.

Leaf's eyes widened. "You told Dusknoir about this?"

"Yeah…" Claire sighed. "I guess that's how he figured out who I am, along with me telling him my name at that time… I know, it sounds kind of dumb _now_ to trust him, but he'd just saved our lives at that point, so…"

"He did?" Leaf's brow furrowed.

Felix nodded. "We'd just gone to look for this item for some friends of ours, and we were attacked by this group of Manectric and Electrike. We probably would have died if he hadn't shown up at just the right time."

"So we thought we could trust him," Claire finished.

"It's not your fault, Claire," Leaf replied, shaking his head.

Hesitantly, he put a hand on her shoulder, and Claire smiled at the gesture. Leaf settled down next to her after that, and Claire almost thought there was another embarrassed look on Felix's face. It vanished quickly enough, though.

"So… How did your plan work?" Iris asked. "I mean, we saw the future. I guess it would be pretty hard to play hero in a place like that, huh?"

"We used Claire's Dimensional Scream to locate the Time Gears," Leaf started. "Well, it ran in your family, actually, and your mother found several of them. You did find one entirely on your own, and there was another that the both of you had a vision about.

"Anyway, as I told you before, the Time Gears fix the flow of time once they're taken to Temporal Tower. We had to find them first, though, and then all we had to do was travel back in time to collect them all."

"Wait, that's what the Dimensional Scream is supposed to do?" Claire frowned. "I've gotten plenty of them from things that have nothing to do with Time Gears."

"Judging from the way you explained it to me once, it's _supposed_ to work the way it does here in the past," Leaf answered, shrugging. "It was the paralysis of time that locked the ability into only activating around Time Gears."

"Huh." Claire mused on that for a moment before going on. "Well, whatever the reason for that, I'm still glad Felix was the one who found me when I woke up. I mean, even if it was thanks to Dusknoir, I probably never would have found out what the Dimensional Screams actually were if I'd been alone somewhere…"

"How _did_ you two meet, anyway?" Leaf asked.

"It was…" Claire paused to think. "I remember waking up there on the beach, and my head really hurt… Then I noticed these—" she pointed to her scars and ear notch "—were bleeding pretty badly, so I tried to clean them up a bit."

Felix winced. "With ocean water."

Iris, Rin, and Leaf wore identical surprised expressions. Claire laughed before she went on. It was pretty funny to think about it now, despite everyone else being surprised.

"Yeah, with ocean water. There wasn't exactly much else around, you know. Anyway, that's when Felix came over to me, and we joined the guild shortly after that. I didn't really have anywhere else to go, so I decided to just… see if it was any fun."

She grinned again, and Leaf appeared to be mulling things over for a moment.

"That's right; you and Dusknoir both said you'd lost your memories," he muttered. "So you wouldn't have known if you had a home or not."

"Why did that happen? And how did I get these, anyway?" Claire pointed to her scars again. "I mean, they were still bleeding when I first woke up, so I guess they would have had to have happened either during or right before we went back… But nothing happened either of the two times we went through time recently."

Felix, Rin, and even Iris were watching intently as Leaf stopped to think again.

"Something… strange happened when we traveled back the first time," he replied slowly. "It was like there was something coming towards me, and you shielded me from it… Though I haven't precisely figured out what 'it' is yet."

"So… is that why I turned into a Pokémon?" Claire asked, puzzling over this new information. "And that's probably why we got separated, too."

"As for your second question, yes," Leaf confirmed. "I'm not sure exactly why that disturbance turned you into a Pokémon, but the fact that you became a Meowth makes sense on its own, at least; your father was a Persian."

Iris snickered, and Rin wasted no time using her typical Bonemerang as punishment.

"I'm betting there weren't many other humans around," Rin noted observantly, and Leaf gave her a nod in confirmation.

"Oh! Could you tell me a bit about my family, then?" Claire felt her eyes light up. "You mentioned something about my mother earlier…"

Leaf looked away from her, his eyes narrowing, and Claire frowned. Her three teammates all looked as confused as she felt; why was he pausing? Eventually, Leaf looked back at her, shaking his head.

"I'll tell you another time," he said quietly. "You've already had a lot of information thrown at you, and we need to get some rest tonight."

"We do!" Iris agreed. "I bet you wanna get started early tomorrow, huh? Though it'll go much faster now that you've got us to help you!"

Rin sighed at Iris's over-enthusiastic comment, but she still nodded in agreement. It _was_ getting pretty late, Claire reluctantly thought; looking between the cave's "teeth," she realized the sun had completely set by now.

"Yes, we'll have a lot of work to do, unfortunately," Leaf told Iris.

At this, Felix quietly got up and walked to a large barrel in the back end of the cave. He pulled out a bit of hay, looking over his shoulder as he did.

"For beds," he clarified. "The floor gets kind of cold…"

The rest of the group proceeded to help Felix set up some makeshift beds, and Claire yawned as she finished hers. As tired as she was getting, she really wished she could have asked Leaf some more questions… On the other hand, she didn't want to do anything to slow him down, either. They'd need to be able to wake up early the next day, and this time, they'd do their mission correctly.

Well, _she'd_ do things correctly this time, Claire thought as she drifted off.

* * *

Felix sat on the edge of the bluff the next morning, watching the sun rise. While he normally preferred sunsets, he'd spent too long in the dark future, and the light was absolutely beautiful. The gentle breeze certainly helped; that was another thing he'd taken for granted before.

He shivered as his mind dwelt on the things they'd seen in the future. Beyond everything else they'd learned, it was so surreal to think the world could ever be like that.

Suddenly, a shuffling sound behind him snapped him out of his thoughts, and Felix tensed as he turned around. Fortunately, the culprit was Leaf and not one of Treasure Town's residents.

"Mind if I join you?" the Grass-Type asked.

After Felix shook his head, Leaf obligingly sat down beside him. They sat together in silence for a few moments, watching as a few more rays of light spread over the horizon. Felix looked over at Leaf, and he wore a surprised expression when he realized Felix was staring at him.

"I-I didn't wake you up coming out here, did I?" Felix blurted.

"Well… Yes. Somewhat." Leaf shrugged. "I would have woken up soon anyway; I just wanted to be sure nothing happened."

"Oh."

Felix looked down for a moment. The sentiment was appreciated, but a bit strange. Leaf was the last Pokémon he'd expect to hear such a thing from; Felix was still too used to thinking of him as a criminal.

But he'd been Claire's partner, even if she didn't remember him, and they'd been friends long before Felix had ever met Claire. He couldn't doubt her judgment, could he? Besides, she'd been working on the exact same thing, and surely his leader couldn't be wrong, could she?

"What are you thinking about?"

Felix jumped when he heard Leaf's voice again. The Grass-Type was giving him a look that was rather hard to read. He bit his lip for a moment before replying.

"It's just…" he sighed. "It's so hard to believe. Claire's done so much for me, but I can't listen to both her and Dusknoir…"

Leaf gave him a hardened look, and Felix backpedaled.

"I-It's not what you think! I _know_ Dusknoir was wrong now, but I spent so long thinking he was a hero. And Claire was with you, so…" Felix shook his head. "I wonder how different everything would be right now if Claire had stayed with you the whole time… Maybe it would have been easier for you."

"But it wouldn't have been for you, would it?"

The question was rather piercing, and Leaf had easily picked up what Felix had left unsaid. He sighed, bending his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them before going on.

"No. Sometimes I think I rely on her too much."

"She relies on you, too, you know. Think about it: she wakes up with no memories, and you were the first Pokémon to show her any kindness. It's really no wonder she had a Dimensional Scream so soon after you met."

Felix smiled hesitantly. "I guess so. It's just… Lately, I've almost been feeling like she's been a replacement for my mother or sister or something like that…"

Leaf raised an eyebrow, and Felix took that as a cue to keep going, even if he felt a bit awkward. He'd never even mentioned this to Claire herself, after all.

"Don't get me wrong, my family has always been really supportive of me, especially my dad's side…" Felix bit his lip again. "But I'm the youngest of six, and there are lots of famous explorers in my family, even among my siblings… I'm also right after my only sister, and my mom was really excited about having a daughter… So I've just always felt like I've had a lot to live up to.

"Then, when I met Claire, she was really nice to me right away. She was never too busy for me or anything… I'd always wanted to join the Wigglytuff Guild, so I could become as good at exploring as everyone else in my family, and I know I wouldn't have been able to do that if Claire didn't go with me."

Leaf paused for a while, looking at the sunrise again as he absorbed all that information. For a moment, Felix swore there was an almost worried look on his face, but it vanished when Felix blinked.

"Hm… You know, when I first saw a sunrise… I thought to myself that Claire would love it. Of course, she doesn't remember that she 'shouldn't' have seen one before meeting you, though," Leaf murmured. "And listening to you, I realize that Claire was essentially my only 'light' of sorts while in the future. She has that effect on people, giving them hope when they wouldn't otherwise have any."

Felix nodded, and the sunrise grew slightly brighter. It was nearly dawn; the rest of the team would be rising soon, no doubt. To be honest, he was a bit glad none of them were up yet. As strange as he'd felt telling Leaf about his family, Felix wasn't really sure if he wanted anyone else to hear about it either.

A slight smile crossed Leaf's face, and Felix couldn't resist doing the same. It was hard to imagine how seeing a sunrise for the first time must have felt… Yet, he thought he could come close, at least, after thinking about how much he'd missed seeing light while in the future.

"You know… Both my first sunrise and my first sunset made me realize how beautiful this world is. It strengthened my resolve to fix it. It's the things you take for granted that are really the most incredible."

Leaf's musings were simple yet surprisingly profound, and Felix found himself nodding in amazement. No matter how he'd felt about Leaf before, he felt as if he'd just come to some understanding, and maybe had some kind of connection. And that was a start.

As morning fully arrived, Felix found himself sitting a bit closer to Leaf, and was relieved when Leaf didn't push him away.

* * *

_Author's Note x2_: Yeah, this chapter turned out pretty dialogue-heavy, but I think that was pretty necessary for all the exposition… It was surprisingly hard to do without rehashing a bunch of stuff I already mentioned in the first two chapters, but I think it otherwise went pretty well.

The sunrise scene was always one of my favorite moments for both the partner and for Grovyle, so I really wanted to take the opportunity to throw in a bit of back-story for Felix.


	12. Companions

_Author's Note_: Another chapter with two points of view… I just thought it would fit this chapter well.

**Chapter Twelve: Companions**

Iris grumbled incessantly upon waking up the next morning. She got nothing for her complaints but an exasperated look from Rin, who was currently helping Felix sort through their rather meager remaining supplies. In the meantime, Claire and Leaf were both examining Leaf's Wonder Map.

Leaf looked up from the map, however, casting a confused look over at Iris.

"She seemed so eager to get going last night." He frowned, turning to Claire. "Is this usual for her?"

Claire nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, you'll get used to it. Iris isn't exactly a morning Pokémon… Anyway, where should we go first?"

"I got my first Time Gear here; I think it would be best to start there again."

Leaf gestured to Treeshroud Forest, and the map obligingly zoomed in on the area. He watched Claire contemplate the idea, resting her chin in a paw as her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Well, you do have some experience with the gears' locations, but that's kind of far away," she pointed out.

"Exactly. It took everyone quite a while to notice that it went missing the first time because of its distance," Leaf clarified. "Besides, the sooner we get it out of the way, the better, and it has no guardian."

"So we can cause less attention?" Rin piped up.

She and Felix had finished dividing up their healing items equally, and she distributed them as she asked the question. Leaf nodded in response as he slipped the berries into his bag.

"Oh!" Claire's eyes lit up. "Makes sense to me, then. Felix? Iris?"

Felix nodded, and Iris mumbled something that _almost_ sounded like "yes" as she rubbed her eyes.

"All right!" Claire grinned. "Let's get going then."

As the five of them headed towards the bluff's stairs, however, Claire cast Leaf a somewhat uncertain look. He put a claw on her shoulder, smiling somewhat awkwardly, as he followed Felix up the stairs.

They were doing this together this time, and that was all that mattered at the moment.

* * *

They'd left early enough that Treasure Town had been nearly deserted; even most of the shopkeepers hadn't been in town yet. This meant that it was easy enough to reach the edge of town, but the trip to Treeshroud Forest was still quite long. Although it was nothing that Team Shadow couldn't handle, the tension along the way was thick enough to cut through.

Leaf sighed in relief when they arrived. Last time, getting there had been the most difficult part; now, reaching the Time Gear seemed easy. However, Iris didn't seem to agree, though she was at least wide awake now.

"Does something here seem… strange to you?" She frowned, pausing before following everyone else into the forest.

"What do you mean?" Claire asked curiously.

"It's just… It didn't take us all day to get here, did it? Yet it looks pretty dark in there…"

Leaf hesitated. The shadows did seem a bit long, though it could have just been the thick canopy playing tricks with his eyes. He shrugged, beckoning to the group as he darted ahead.

"We'll be fine," he replied tersely, though he was trying to convince himself as much as them.

"We do need to hurry," Claire agreed. "Let's just think of this like a race, okay?"

At the suggestion, Iris perked up considerably. She eagerly kept up with Leaf and Claire, while Rin and Felix kept a close watch from behind them.

Leaf was glad that Claire had come up with a way to preoccupy her teammates. The further they went into the forest, the more he thought that something _was_ a bit off. It was too tense; the local Pokémon kept hissing shooting paranoid looks at the group of five. The shadows seemed to get longer and longer as well, and the forest itself seemed to be getting darker.

Leaf shook his head. He couldn't let himself get nervous now, if only for the sake of keeping Claire and her friends feeling safe.

Nonetheless, they eventually realized something was wrong.

"You're shuffling again, Claire," Rin said softly.

Claire jumped at her teammate's voice, but sighed and settled down a moment later. Leaf hadn't noticed it himself, despite having caught it when they'd been in the future together…

"I just… It feels like I should be." Claire looked confused. "Like when we were in the future…"

Leaf froze. That couldn't be it, could it? Now that he thought of it, the forest did feel quite similar to how the future did. It was almost the exact same way it had been when he'd first taken the Time Gear…

"Wait…" Felix frowned worriedly. "Now that you mention it… But Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf said they'd put the Time Gears back, right?"

Leaf did recall hearing them say that right before Dusknoir had taken him to the future. That had to have reversed the effects of him taking the gears, he convinced himself.

"Right. So everything should be fine here," he replied. "We're almost there, so we've got to keep moving."

Team Shadow nodded, though they still looked slightly more worried than before. Clearly, they'd picked up on the forest's atmosphere more than Leaf thought they had… Claire and Iris were at least trying to look cheerful, though Rin and Felix were having less success.

When they finally reached Treeshroud Forest's final clearing, Leaf felt himself speed up instinctively. The faint glow of the Time Gear up ahead indicated that it was indeed there, and it was just as impressive-looking as it had been last time. Claire scampered up to Leaf, her eyes widening unconsciously.

"I saw one pretty closely at Uxie's lake, but…" she trailed off.

"You've never gotten quite this close, have you?" Leaf finished.

She shook her head rapidly. Before either of them could go on, Iris started grumbling audibly.

"Did it just start raining? I swear I just ran into something…"

Leaf raised an eyebrow. Turning around, he winced as he felt a few droplets slide off the leaves on his wrists and tail; he'd been walking so quickly before, he must have not noticed. Yet he hadn't _heard_ any rain start, either…

"Um… Look at this, guys," Felix called.

He was pointing at a nearby tree, and when Leaf squinted, he could make out a few raindrops falling off one of its lower branches. No, he corrected himself, they were hanging there mid-fall. He felt his eyes widen as Claire, Rin, and Iris all inhaled sharply.

"D-does this mean… time is still frozen here?" Felix asked quietly.

That's what it had been. Leaf had been suspecting _something_ had been wrong the whole time… He nodded silently.

"Hey! The Time Gear is where it belongs, so… Why?" Iris scowled.

"I bet this means we don't have much time left…" Claire trailed off.

"Yes… That's what I'd guess, too." Leaf sighed gustily. "If time didn't go back to normal here, Temporal Tower must be fairly close to collapse."

"How much time do you think we have, then?" Rin said, tilting her head to the side as she thought.

Leaf winced. "I'm not sure. We'd better go on and take this one."

He walked over to the pedestal and carefully picked up the Time Gear. Out of the corner of his eye, Leaf could see Felix flinch as the blue-green glow faded from the area. He paused for a moment before putting the gear into his bag; he felt rather uneasy as he turned back to the rest of the group.

"We should hurry back to the bluff," he said. "We need to decide carefully what we're going to do next."

"Yeah…" Claire nodded. "Let's go!"

Leaf placed a claw over his bag for a moment, trying to reassure himself as he felt the Time Gear again, and hurried after Claire as she turned to leave the clearing.

* * *

Claire sighed when she hurried back into the bluff. It had taken them quite a bit longer than expected to get back, despite leaving from Treeshroud Forest immediately. It had, in part, been due to the fact that Treasure Town had been bustling with activity when they'd arrived, so they'd had to take great care to sneak past everyone.

Still, the trip had overall taken nearly a full day, and even she was getting tired by that point.

"Isn't there some faster way to do this?" Iris groaned. "Did all the Time Gears take you this long to get last time?"

She lay down on her stomach, resting her head on folded arms. Leaf winced as he sat down as well, frowning.

"I didn't exactly have the luxury of being able to consult with a group," he pointed out. "So while I have a map, I was still unable to come up with some 'quickest route' to all of them."

"Where _did_ you get a Wonder Map, anyway?" Claire wondered. "I thought those were guild-issue only."

"Ah… When I first got to Treasure Town, a Skorupi I met gave it to me," he explained. "She said she got it from someone who was on an exploration team… Anyway, we do need to come up with some kind of plan now, so if you all don't mind…"

Claire nodded. "Of course! We could probably help you come up with some quicker routes, too. Which one are you thinking of getting next?"

"Well, there's one around here that was fairly easy to get last time…" Leaf gestured towards the southern portion of his map. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "However, I think it would be best if we split up for a short time."

"What?" Iris blinked. "Why?"

Claire felt her stomach sink. Somehow, the idea of splitting up intentionally seemed so much worse than splitting up on accident, despite everything that had happened "last time"… Leaf quickly caught the look on her face and went on.

"It's just… We need to look for Temporal Tower," he clarified.

"Right." Felix nodded. "You said we have to take the Time Gears there…"

"You need to look for it?" Rin asked.

The phrasing did seem a bit odd, Claire realized. Leaf cringed, causing everyone to look at him in confusion.

"Let me rephrase that. We knew that Temporal Tower is in a place called the Hidden Land, but that's all. It's the Hidden Land that we need to find."

"Oh." Claire folded her arms. "Did we have any clues about where the Hidden Land might be?"

Leaf shook his head. "That's the problem. According to Celebi, no one has ever been able to figure out where the Hidden Land is, at least in relation to anything else."

"But how…?" Rin puzzled.

"Temporal Tower is too powerful to be somewhere easily accessible," Leaf explained. "However, if anyone has any leads on where to look, it would be the guild's members, don't you think?"

"That's a good idea!" Claire shot her paws into the air in excitement. "Chatot knows all kinds of things. Even if he doesn't know where it is specifically, I bet he's at least heard some rumors about it."

"Do we really have to go talk to Chatot so soon after getting back?" Iris groaned.

She rolled over onto her side, facing away from Claire and sulking. Claire laughed as Leaf gave Iris a baffled look.

"It's a long story," she said. "Anyway… Come on, everyone. Even if they _don't_ know anything right now, it would be better to have help looking, right? And they're probably really worried about us…"

Iris sighed, Rin nodded, and Felix smiled apprehensively. While they were all likely a bit worried about just "magically" showing back up at the guild, Leaf did have a point. And as much as Claire hated the idea of knowingly splitting up with him, the apprentices would probably be more likely to believe them if he wasn't there.

"We should probably spend some time today getting ready, then," Rin pointed out. "We'll be able to get more supplies after we go to the guild, but we should make sure Leaf has enough."

Claire nodded. "Also, if we wait until around dinner time, we can be sure everyone will be there." She paused before turning to Leaf and adding, "How will we keep in contact with you, though?"

Closing his eyes, Leaf groaned and rested his head in a claw for a moment. It seemed he hadn't thought of that. Fortunately, he came up with something rather quickly.

"We can leave notes here," he replied. "It should be easy enough for you all to come back and check every once in a while, and in the very least, I've gotten used to sneaking around enough that it shouldn't be too difficult for me, either."

Claire nodded. "That makes sense. Now let's rest up for a little while, shall we?"

Everyone gave agreements of varying enthusiasm — with Iris being the most eager for rest — and Claire felt relieved as she laid down.

* * *

Claire was a bit cold when she stirred a few hours later. Stretching, she looked towards the middle of the room. Felix had stayed up for a few minutes to light a fire in the cave's center, but it had apparently gone out while they'd slept.

She then looked towards the mouth of the cave, trying to guess the time from the bits of the sky she could see. It wasn't quite sunset yet, but the sun was starting to get a bit lower in the sky… They'd have to leave soon.

Leaf was sitting near the cave's teeth; he was apparently the only other one awake. Claire slowly walked over to him, and he looked up with a slight smile as she sat down next to him.

"Are you all right?" he queried.

"I think so," she sighed. "It's just… everything would have been so much simpler if we'd just thought of asking you what you were doing before."

"Hindsight is everything, you know," Leaf replied. "You had no reason to think about asking me."

'_Because of Dusknoir'_ went unspoken, but Claire caught the implication. She frowned, resting her elbows on the stalagmite in front of her as she leaned forward.

"What if Dusknoir comes after us again?" she asked suddenly.

"Worrying isn't like you, Claire," Leaf chided, though he rested a claw on her back gently. "Right now, we just have to focus on our mission."

They were silent as a slight breeze blew over them. Then, Claire nodded as her usual grin returned to her face.

"Yeah… you're right," she admitted. "And I really am excited about seeing the other apprentices again."

Leaf gave her an encouraging look before turning towards the rest of Team Shadow.

"Good. Let's wake the others and get going, then."

They gently shook the three awake, and Rin and Felix got up immediately. While Iris grumbled again, she still woke up considerably more quickly than she had the previous morning. Once they were finished stretching and collecting their bags, they gathered near the stairs.

For a few seconds, they looked at each other in a nervous silence. Then, Leaf sighed, gestured to them, and hurried up the stairs.

"Let's go."

It was a bit abrupt, but there really wasn't much else to say. Fortunately, it was late enough that while there were a few teams around Treasure Town, there weren't _too_ many. Sneaking towards the crossroads didn't take too long, but Claire still felt relieved when they reached the stairs leading up to the guild.

"So… we're ready?" Iris folded her arms.

"We all know what to do," Leaf confirmed. "Don't worry about me. Good luck!"

"Yeah…" Claire bit her lip, but then grinned again. "Good luck, Leaf."

She flung her arms around him, and Leaf stiffened awkwardly. He patted the back of her head before abruptly turning around and fleeing. Blinking, Claire watched him leave, trying to ignore Iris's smirk.

"Aren't you two just adorable," she said dryly.

"Let's just go," Felix cut in nervously.

The four of them collectively took a deep breath and started walking up the steps. For some reason, the grate in front of the guild's entrance looked more ominous than usual; Claire could almost understand how Felix had used to be scared of stepping on it.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she grabbed her teammates and stepped onto the grate. Claire heard Felix's breathing speed up, and she couldn't help wondering what was taking Diglett so long…

Finally, she heard Loudred's voice, though just barely.

"Diglett? WHAT are you DOING? If there's no one THERE—"

"There's… There's… Visitor detected! Visitor detected!"

"Ugh… At THIS time of day? Who IS it?"

"It can't be… But it looks like… Chimchar… And I think Meowth… and…"

"Hey! DIGLETT?"

But there was silence from the tunnel for a few seconds, leaving Loudred shouting at nothing. Then, Diglett burst out of the ground in front of them, causing Felix to jump in surprise. Diglett's eyes widened as he looked at them, and Claire have him a hesitant smile.

"Uh… hi?" she said.

"It's them! It's Team Shadow!"

At Diglett's statement, the gate covering the guild's door rattled open. Not a moment later, Team Shadow was practically stampeded by the recruits; the first ones out were Bruce, Team Lightning, and Bidoof, followed closely by Sunflora, Corphish, and the others. Their voices were barely distinct from each other as questions flooded out of their mouths.

"How — when — we thought you—"

An irate squawk pierced through the noise, and suddenly Chatot was shoving recruits out of the way to make room for Wigglytuff. The apprentices silenced as Wigglytuff paused, looked at Team Shadow, and broke into a grin.

"Welcome back!"

It felt official at his greeting, and Claire beamed as he led the team inside.

* * *

"What _happened_ to you guys?"

The question had been popped the instant Team Shadow had been ushered down to the guild's basement. Despite her relief at being back just a few minutes ago, Claire was suddenly having a very hard time filling the apprentices in. Fortunately, Iris and Felix were more than eager to fill in some details while Rin nodded along in confirmation. Everyone kept quiet, though Claire was unsure how much of their silence was due to disbelief.

She knew she'd have a hard time believing the story if she hadn't been there herself. But she kept going, since _"Worrying isn't like you, Claire,"_ and they had to tell _someone_ what was going on.

At the end, the recruits stared at them in more silence. Claire caught her breath, trying to think of some way to lessen the suspense, when Chatot burst into spontaneous laughter. The entire assembly jumped in shock; it would have been jarring even if it _hadn't_ been from the usually-serious bird.

"Please," he gasped, catching his breath. "What part of this story of yours is remotely plausible? Dusknoir is a villain, and _Meowth_ here worked with _Grovyle_? Do go on!"

"I… What?" Claire blinked.

"Are you saying we're lying?" Iris demanded.

"Oh, no, no, certainly not! You must just be… confused, that's all," Chatot went on, waving a wing dismissively. "So why don't we try to sort out what actually happened and…"

"Look," Iris exploded. "We know what we saw! We nearly died, and you're telling us we're making stuff up?" Embers started forming around her fist as she stepped forward. "You're just going to blow off the fact that the world's in danger? If you don't believe us, you can just go look in the places where the Time Gears are, and—"

Claire and Rin grabbed Iris by the shoulders before she could launch the Fire Punch. The flames around her fist died down, though she was still breathing heavily, and Chatot was giving her a stunned look. There was silence again for a few seconds before another voice spoke up.

"Um… No one here thinks you lied."

Bruce quietly stepped forward, and the Glameow had a reassuring smile on his face. Claire looked at him in surprise for a few moments, and then he walked forward and sat down next to them.

"Oof… He's right, by golly!" Bidoof suddenly added. "I reckon you're telling the truth!"

"We believe you too!" Heliona shouted, and Leon and Sydney nodded in agreement.

"Oh my gosh! I totally believe you guys!"

"Hey, hey! I do too!"

Chatot squawked in surprise as the rest of the apprentices burst into agreements, and he wildly looked around at them. As the recruits swarmed around Team Shadow again, Claire felt her heartbeat speed up, and a grin had plastered itself on her face. It didn't last long, though; Chatot cut in irritably as he waved the recruits out of the way.

"Look here!" Chatot glared. "Even if their tale made the slightest bit of sense — which it doesn't! — why in the world would Meowth take so long to tell any of this to us?"

"Oh." Claire found herself looking down at the floor. "I… didn't remember any of it. The first thing I remember at all is… waking up on the beach a few hours before we joined the guild…"

"WHAT? Are you saying you have AMNESIA or something?" Loudred asked, a stunned look on his face.

The rest of the recruits murmured amongst themselves as Claire nodded. A smug expression formed on Chatot's face as he looked at her.

"So then how do you know that any of what Grovyle told you is true?"

"I guess I don't," Claire admitted hesitantly. "But I…"

"That's enough from silly Chatot!" Wigglytuff interrupted. "He's just testing you!"

"_WHAT_?!"

All of the recruits looked stunned again, and Claire herself was surprised. The situation was getting a bit surreal…

"He just wanted to make sure everyone believes you!" Wigglytuff grinned; he didn't seem aware of the fact Chatot was scowling at him. "We're going to do whatever it takes to help you. Right, friendly friends?"

"_YEAH_!"

The recruits collectively let out another cheer. In the background, Chatot shook his head and covered his face with a wing, but no one paid him any attention. Instead, they were all chattering excitedly; the atmosphere almost reminded Claire of the expedition, and the fact that everyone was so excited was uplifting.

"We did it," Felix choked. "They believe us—"

Suddenly, his stomach growled loudly, and everyone stopped talking. Iris, Claire, and even Rin followed suit, and Claire burst into giggles at Rin's somewhat embarrassed expression. The mood had been killed, but the other apprentices started laughing, too, and it didn't really matter anymore.

"You came back at just the right time," Chimecho said gently. "We've got four seats at the dinner table that have been empty for far too long."

Everyone stampeded into the kitchen with no further prompting, and at that, it fully sank in that they were finally _home_.

* * *

_Author's Note x2_: And so they're back at the guild. Chatot's attitude here always has and always will bug me, but I love the rest of the guild's reactions so much that I always forget about Chatot easily enough. Next chapter should be a bit more like the earlier chapters, in that it's less "directly" from the game, but I think this chapter still works fairly well.

Oh, and for the unaware, I've recently started doing some side-stories to this. So if you're curious about all the stuff that hasn't made it into the story, go check them out if you haven't already!


	13. Cooperation

_Author's Note_: I really would have loved to see how Grovyle's side of the "end game" went, so here's Leaf's point of view. It's fairly short, but I enjoyed this chapter...

**Chapter Thirteen: Cooperation**

Leaf was decidedly uncomfortable by the time he arrived at Limestone Cavern again.

It wasn't because he'd had to fight through the other dungeons on the way again; they had actually been a bit easier than last time by virtue of experience. Rather, it was because Leaf still felt guilty about what had happened the _last_ time he'd been here, though he knew there was little he could do about it now.

Sighing, Leaf entered the cavern. After Treeshroud Forest, at least he was expecting the area to be paralyzed; it didn't make him feel any better about it, though.

Leaf hurried through the dungeon, having to fight quite a few more of its residents this time. Despite the fairly short amount of time the area had been paralyzed, it had quite the impact on them; it was really no wonder why so many of the Pokémon in the future were the way they were… That was yet another reason for Leaf to make sure he did things correctly now.

He allowed himself a short break upon reaching Limestone Cavern's branching area. Fortunately, Rin had packed him a good deal of Oran Berries, and he sat down to catch his breath as he ate one. Claire really was lucky, he mused, to have met such good teammates; despite the fact this was a simple convenience, it was something he appreciated nonetheless.

Leaf stood up quickly, passing through the false wall again. He quickened his pace, trying to avoid fights whenever possible; he was lucky Limestone Cavern was a relatively small dungeon.

When he reached Ditto's chamber, Leaf felt his heartbeat speed up… He wasn't quite sure what to expect. Slowly, he walked forward, and his stomach hitched when he reached the back of the room.

Ditto was frozen in place in the same area Leaf had last seen him. His formerly bright-pink skin had a rather dull hue to it now, and he was so stiff that had Leaf not known better he would have assumed Ditto was merely a statue. At the very least, it seemed Ditto had had the time to eat the Oran Berry Leaf had offered him, as the guardian's injuries were all healed.

"I'm sorry," Leaf said quietly. "I know you probably can't hear me, but…"

Suddenly, there was an odd gleam in Ditto's eyes, and he seemed to be looking straight at Leaf. Had his eyes just moved? Leaf inhaled sharply; despite being frozen, it was possible Ditto was still conscious.

"_Can_ you hear me?" he asked hesitantly.

Ditto's eyes shifted again; his barely-distinguishable pupils moved to the side before focusing back on Leaf. Biting his lip, Leaf looked to the side before going on.

"I owe you an explanation, I suppose," Leaf murmured. "Have you heard of Temporal Tower? I need to take the Time Gears there to… to fix the tower. Things will go back to normal here once I've been there. I promise you that."

Ditto's eyes shone with tears that were unable to fall. As he forced himself to walk away from Ditto, Leaf had to close his eyes for a moment, though for an entirely different reason than the previous time.

When he entered the Time Gear's chamber, the gear was sitting uselessly on its pedestal, just as the one in Treeshroud Forest had been. Leaf sighed as he picked it up and put it gingerly into his bag. This time, there was no rumbling, no fear of being frozen, and no swarm of panicking Pokémon, and yet Leaf almost wished there was. It would have been far preferable to the way the cavern was _now_…

Before he could berate himself further, Leaf fled from the chamber, more motivated than ever to finish his mission.

* * *

Out of the three lakes, Fogbound Lake was the closest, and Leaf immediately set out for there. It was still a somewhat long trip, but at least this time he wasn't stopping back at Treasure Town each time he collected a gear…

The fact that the temporary paralysis seemed to be worsening did little to comfort Leaf. When he arrived at Foggy Forest, there was a dull, grayish tint in the air that he knew couldn't be fog; time had stopped shortly after he'd lifted the fog, after all. Scowling, Leaf proceeded through the area as quickly as possible.

Leaf couldn't help heaving a rather gusty sigh when he reached the clearing. While it wasn't quite as bad as its future counterpart, the waterfalls were stopped in place and the sky was somewhat dark. He couldn't let it get any worse.

Steam Cave's residents were much more aggressive than they'd been the previous time, unfortunately. Not that Leaf blamed them, but it made getting through the dungeon even more difficult than it had been before.

He dreaded reaching the top, knowing what awaited him… However, when he arrived at the plateau, Leaf stood there in complete silence for several minutes. This time, there was no rumbling to indicate the Groudon illusion's heavy footsteps.

Confused, Leaf cautiously took a few steps forward. He then jumped a bit higher than he would have cared to admit when there was a bright flash of light a few feet ahead of him.

Uxie was suddenly waiting for him in the gap between the hills in the distance. Surprisingly, the Psychic-Type merely beckoned towards Leaf before heading towards the lake. Leaf followed him warily, wondering what exactly was going on.

When Leaf approached him, Uxie was quietly observing Fogbound Lake. There was a geyser mid-eruption in the middle, held in place by the area's paralysis just as the waterfalls had been. After a sigh, Uxie turned towards Leaf with a small smile on his face.

"You know… You could have told me what you needed the Time Gear for last time," he chided, though there was a hint of humor in his voice.

Leaf raised an eyebrow. "What…? You're saying you would have listened? And why the change of heart now?"

"Perhaps I would have, though it's hard to know for sure." Uxie paused, though his smile grew a moment later. "And you'll have to thank the Guild later. They sent recruits to tell Mesprit, Azelf, and me what was going on, though one of us could have told the other two…"

"I see." Leaf nodded. "So… You do know why I need the Time Gears, then, yes?"

"I do. It's strange…" Uxie sighed. "The other guardians and I _were_ told there was some other purpose the gears served, but we were never told what, precisely, that purpose was. Dialga told us he'd let us know 'when the time was right,' but…"

"This certainly seems like a good time to fill you in," Leaf answered pointedly.

"Precisely, and that's been worrying me." Uxie frowned. "It makes me wonder if…"

As the guardian trailed off, Leaf felt a flash of worry himself. How had Uxie intended to finish that sentence? It could have been something that Leaf needed to know, especially if it was something about Dialga…

Uxie quickly shook his head, having caught Leaf's nervous look.

"I apologize; I'm likely just thinking too much. Just a moment."

Uxie vanished, and his silhouette was temporarily visible in the middle of the frozen geyser. A few seconds later, he reappeared in front of Leaf, and he was holding the Time Gear. He handed it to Leaf, who carefully put it in his bag with the other two.

"Good luck," Uxie said. "And remember, we're on your side this time."

"Thank you."

With an appreciative nod, Leaf hurried away, feeling relieved.

* * *

The Northern Desert was just as paralyzed as Foggy Forest was, Leaf observed. The quicksand pits were frozen in place, causing him to merely slide down them instead of being pulled in.

Leaf ran all the way through Quicksand Cave, once again having to fight many of the dungeon's residents. Despite the area having been paralyzed for a slightly shorter amount of time, it was affecting the local Pokémon just as much as, if not more than, the paralysis in other areas was.

Perhaps they wouldn't have had to be this way at the moment if Leaf had done things correctly the first time… Now was no time to guilt-trip himself, though, so Leaf hurriedly pushed that thought out of his mind.

Mesprit was waiting for him when he reached the lake, and she was actually grinning at him. She waved excitedly, and Leaf approached her with a curious expression.

"Hey, there!" she called. "You'll be wanting this…"

Mesprit was already holding the Time Gear, and Leaf darted up to her.

"Indeed." Leaf nodded. "I'm a bit surprised at how quickly you all are accepting this, but…"

Before she handed him the Time Gear, Mesprit paused and suddenly had a more serious look on her face. Leaf was a bit taken aback; Mesprit was staring at him rather intensely.

"It would have been nice if you hadn't attacked us last time," she said. "Why _didn't_ you tell anyone what you were really doing?"

Leaf sighed. "I'm… not entirely sure. All I knew was that I hadn't been able to trust anyone before, and, well… You know what everyone's reactions were to me taking the Time Gears."

"You have a point there, I suppose."

Mesprit's serious tone dropped, and Leaf felt an extreme wave of relief washing over him. The guardian was abruptly cheery again as she floated towards him. Leaf wondered offhand if her mood was affecting his at all as some kind of side-effect of her emotional powers.

Nevertheless, he assumed it didn't matter too much. As long as Mesprit was willingly giving him her Time Gear, Leaf wouldn't object to any of the minor details.

"How many is it that you have now?" she queried.

Leaf secured the gear in his bag before answering.

"Four. I'm almost finished, so your lake will be back to normal soon, I promise you."

The two of them stared out at the frozen water. Large waves sat in place further back in the lake, while the water near the shore refused to move any further or closer away from them. Mesprit frowned and closed her eyes for a moment before looking at Leaf.

"That's… that's been the worst part, to be honest," she admitted. "I know it was necessary and only temporary now, but…"

"But you still felt responsible at the time?" Leaf finished. "Well… I felt similarly when I failed before. We're making up for it now, so don't worry yourself anymore."

Mesprit's eyes were a bit bright as she gave him a nod in confirmation, and yet her grin was a bit wider, too. Giving her a quick smile of his own, Leaf hurried away, determined to keep up his deal this time.

* * *

Now was as good a time as any to leave a message for Claire, Leaf decided.

He headed towards Treasure Town rather cautiously. Despite the fact that Claire had to have told everyone the truth about him while explaining the current situation, going about in public made him a bit nervous. It would likely take everyone some time to fully accept him, so Leaf restricted himself to sneaking along the edges of town again.

When he reached the bluff, Leaf quickly glanced over his shoulder and scurried inside. Interestingly, all five of the beds were still set up… More importantly, though, there was a scrap of paper sitting on the one he remembered Claire had slept on. Leaf curiously picked it up, recognizing Claire's handwriting quickly enough.

'_Dear Leaf,'_ the message started, _'I hope this message finds you safe! I'm not sure how many of the Time Gears you'll have by the time you'll read this, but we told the guild to warn the lake guardians so they don't fight you again. You may want to wait a little while just to be sure the recruits have time to get there… Of course, if you've already been there by the time you see this, you'd already know that…_

'_Anyway, while it's a bit slow, we're making some progress on finding the Hidden Land. Be sure to let us know how many Time Gears you have when you get here! Oh, and I don't know if you have any paper, but just in case, we left you some. From, Claire.'_

Leaf smiled absently as he tucked the note into his bag. He took one of the sheets of paper lying near the middle of the cavern and quickly penned a reply, being sure to thank them for the messengers. When he finished, Leaf started to walk towards the stairs, but then paused and turned around again.

Claire had asked him about her family when they'd returned to the past together, and she deserved to know. Leaf grabbed some more paper and raised the pen again, but then he hesitated suddenly; he doubted letting Claire know this would really be a good idea. The fact that most of her family was dead could put quite the damper on her determination, and the idea of getting to see Andrew again would likely give her a sense of false hope. Leaf just couldn't do that to her.

Sighing, Leaf abandoned the idea and left the bluff. There was one Time Gear left, and now was not the time for dwelling.

* * *

When Leaf arrived in the final chamber of Crystal Cave, the crystal puzzle was already open. It confused him for a moment, but he supposed Azelf was expecting him, and this time it was a good thing.

It certainly helped that Crystal Cave wasn't paralyzed. After seeing so many Pokémon suffering from frozen time, it was quite refreshing to see the "normal" ones here.

He assumed Azelf would be waiting for him near the lake as Uxie and Mesprit had. When he reached the final chamber, Leaf was proven right, although Azelf didn't turn to face him immediately. Instead, Azelf was staring intently at the lake.

Leaf couldn't blame him; unlike Fogbound Lake and Underground Lake, the water was actually moving as it should be. It was one of the many minor yet beautiful things that had driven Leaf's resolve even more… He wouldn't let this lake get frozen.

"It's quite beautiful, isn't it?"

Azelf jumped when he heard Leaf's voice. He smiled as he turned around, however, and the guardian nodded as Leaf approached.

"It is," he replied softly. "It's surprising how little I thought of it before now, but…"

He looked away quickly, though, and Leaf cringed. Although Azelf wasn't showing it much, it was clear he was a bit nervous.

"Look, ah… I'm sorry about last time," he mumbled.

Azelf chuckled. "No, don't worry about it; I was being too stubborn. You were only doing what you thought you had to do."

It was a weak justification; they both knew how badly Leaf had hurt Azelf. There was nothing that could be done about it now, of course… Leaf still shuddered, though, thinking about what he'd done to Team Shadow as well.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Azelf vanished abruptly. He then reappeared in the middle of the lake, fetching the Time Gear. As he handed it to Leaf, a deep rumbling sounded from the back of the chamber as the lake stilled. Leaf had to steady himself as he quickly put the Time Gear in his bag.

"I warned the dungeon's residents that this would happen," Azelf shouted over the din. "Let's get out of here!"

He put a hand on Leaf's shoulder, and his eyes started to glow. After a few seconds, they materialized outside the cave, and Leaf sighed in relief. Though he'd gotten plenty used to teleporting, between Celebi, Jirachi, and his fondness for Escape Orbs, Leaf wasn't exactly fond of it.

Azelf waited until he saw some of Crystal Cave's Pokémon exit the dungeon before he looked back to Leaf. Despite the fact that they'd been prepared, Azelf was clearly relieved to see they were making it out safely.

"Go," he said seriously. "We're counting on you."

"I know. I won't let you down!"

Leaf nodded over his shoulder as he bounded away. Anticipation ran high as he started making his way back towards Treasure Town.

He was finally doing what he was _supposed_ to have done last time, and now there was only one thing left to accomplish.

* * *

_Author's Note x2_: Oh, Ditto… I like needlessly torturing characters. And seriously, did Dialga just never bother to tell the lake guardians what the Time Gears were supposed to do? And yes, I know the hero never leaves Grovyle a note, but hey, you should have.


End file.
